#dc cinematic universe make the old man evil

[impregnatedafterpostbirthdaysex]

every parallax hal appearance makes me laugh so hard especially after zero hour

[crossovershipstournament]

SIDE 2A: ROUND 2: Megaman (Megaman)/Pit (Kid Icarus) VS Selina Kyle (Catwoman) (DC Comics)/Loki (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

Propaganda for Megaman/Pit:

This ask, which includes the art used in the bracket image!

Oh my god. This one came immediately to mind. Idk how big the ship is now, but I remember like seeing it everywhere back when Super Smash Bros Ultimate was like popular on Tumblr/Twitter. I think it was originally a crackship cause both of them were in Captain N (a cartoon), but it’s like a serious thing now. Literally all it took was one interaction between them (there’s like dialogue you can get if you do some combination when you play as Pit) which is just Pit gushing about Mega Man. It’s cute. And honestly kind of iconic

#MEGAPIT ?? good for them #go back in time and tell kid me the ship he came up with on a whim would be in a tumblr bracket :'3

#megapit sweep!

#megapit nation let's pokémon go to the polls #let's give it for a wholesome and iconic crackship

#MEGAPIT NATION RISE. RISE. RISE #MEGAPIT

#MEGAPIT!!!1!

#MEGAPIT NATION RISE UP

#c'mon megapit nation #sure they may lose but let's get them some votes anyways!

Propaganda for Selina Kyle (Catwoman)/Loki:

Two not quite villains who will never be content as heroes despite how much their friends and family would like them to be. They can sass each other and steal things together. In fact, Loki, being old as most artifacts, can claim that anything they steal technically belongs to him through some convoluted story that may or may not be true. So they've got this game going on with Batman. If he catches them, the museum can keep the object. Otherwise, Loki gets to keep "his stuff" and no one bothers them to avoid an incident with Asgard. It drives Batman up the wall. Loki and Selina are two beautiful Neutrals with a dash of chaos. He adores her and she loves his mystery and pizzazz. They bring out the best in each other. The Joker is dead and Loki has taken over his turf as the Crown Prince of Crime Alley. He sits on his ice throne with his darling Selina, finding new and vicious nonfatal ways of dealing with those who try to usurp them. They might intervene if they hear someone is doing something evil enough, so if you want to get rid of your enemies, feel free to snitch. Selina and Loki both think the other is sexy. Selina loves that Loki isn't quite evil but she doesn't feel bad for stealing when she's with him. He makes it fun. Loki loves that Selina has given him a chance and doesn't have grand expectations of heroics from him. That he doesn't need power to keep her.

Reasons why Batman does not like this ship:

-Selina knows Bruce Wayne is Batman, and by virtue of that fact, so does Loki. To keep things fun and remind the other rogues he's still a "villain" Loki likes to kidnap Bruce once a month and demand Batman come and rescue him. It's very annoying. The other Rogues assume Loki does this since Batman and Catwoman used to be a thing. Really Loki just thinks it's funny that Bruce can't escape without ruining his whole "Brucie" image. It's also a great way to clear a fancy restaurant and have a private date with Selina when she's called to "talk him down" until "Batman" shows up.

-Loki doesn't know how to drive. Selina has decided to teach him. And since Bruce is a family friend, she has decided that means she can "borrow" his cars any time. Bruce has lost track of how many times he's left the office to find his car isn't where he parked it. Loki is a madman on the streets. So ofc he gets pulled over a lot. Never fear! He just magics him and Selina to look like Bruce and his latest girlfriend. Bruce is this close to getting his license revoked.

-Loki and Selina wait until Batman is about to head from his patrol to rob the museum. They've made a game out of it with a point system and everything. Thankfully they only do it on relatively quiet nights to make sure the gets his steps in.

Reasons Batman likes the ship:

-Selina is happy. Really happy. She lights up whenever she's with Loki. Loki just melts in her arms. Any idiot could see they're in love. They banter and flirt with each other everywhere from the grocery store to the middle of a high speed chase.

-He knows Loki would tear the world apart for Selina. He would face down Thanos all over again if he had too.

-Any villain stupid enough to interrupt their date night will be swiftly returned to Arkham.

Reasons Robin likes the ship:

-Selina and Loki are going to adopt his best friend Colin Wilkes.

-Loki and Selina protect all the animal shelters.

-Loki and Selina are always down to help him sneak animals into the manor.

Reason Robin does not like the ship:

-Loki and Selina are firm believers in PDA and Damian is at the age when cooties are very much still a thing.

Lovely art~!

Art Credit: Megaman/Pit art by @/farraigeart Catwoman/Loki art by @/kannra-orhara

[aion-rsa]

Marvel’s What If? Trailer Breakdown and MCU Easter Eggs Explained

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Lost in the shuffle of Marvel’s live action TV slate and its implications for the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe (like DOOM being the secret bad guy of Loki CHANGE MY MIND) is the impending release of Marvel’s first animated series. What If…? follows the theme of the comic of the same name, which explores far-fetched alternate versions of big moments in Marvel history. As you can see from the show’s new trailer, things get very weird when you start messing with the sacred timeline.

The first season of the animated show is going to run for 10 episodes, but it seems we only got a look at four or five possible stories from the trailer. We’re going to try and take it one story at a time. If you haven’t seen the trailer yet, take a look below:

Okay, here’s everything we found:

Uatu the Watcher

The framing sequence for every issue of the comic was Uatu the Watcher telling readers how if one thing changed, the whole world might have turned out differently. Uatu is a member of a race of extremely powerful, nigh-immortal beings committed to watching (or “monitoring” if you’re a DC head) the universe, but never interfering. Among his gadgets and gizmos that enabled him to perform those duties were machines that would let him see alternate possible realities. It looks like that framing sequence will make its way to the animated series, with Uatu played by Jeffrey Wright. 

Killmonger and Iron Man

The first big change we see is Eric Killmonger, the Black Panther villain, saving Tony Stark from a bomb at what would have been the beginning of the first Iron Man movie. 

It looks like this one wraps up with a big battle, with Killmonger and Ramonda (T’Challa’s stepmother and queen of Wakanda) each leading forces. What’s potentially interesting about this would be how it ties the motivations of Tony Stark and Killmonger together – Tony, saved from the attack, would not be forced to create Iron Man armor and could potentially give Killmonger a different outlet for his anger at Wakanda.

Thor vs. Ultrons in Madripoor

This next shot looks like a bunch of Ultrons circling a brightly lit building. The color scheme makes me immediately think Madripoor, the southeast Asian island nation introduced to the MCU in The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, but it’s entirely possible that this is just some garishly lit Stark holding.

The Ultrons swarm the building and Thor is there to meet them.

Captain Carter

The second big story teased in the trailer looks to be along the lines of “What if Peggy Carter got the super soldier serum?” The answer is apparently “ride an Iron Man into battle.”

Peggy obviously isn’t going to become Captain America, but her becoming Captain Britain would be a bit of a big deal. Captain Britain is typically an X-Men thing – the original 616 Captain was Brian Braddock, created by legendary X-writer Chris Claremont and Herb Trimpe. Brian headlined his own title for a bit, flourishing under Alan Moore and Alan Davis before fading away, only to have Claremont salvage his character family, including his sister Betsy, for his massive, seminal X-Men run.

Brian became Captain Britain when he was approached by Merlin and his daughter Roma and asked to choose between the Amulet of Right and the Sword of Might to see what kind of protector he would be. Interesting that we see Peggy carrying a sword here…

We also get a quick glimpse of Arnim Zola, the Hydra scientist who eventually uploaded his consciousness into a series of televisions to become one of the big bads of Captain America: Winter Soldier.

Here’s where this story starts to take a turn: Dr. Strange meets up with Captain Carter, and presumably from here shit gets real weird. 

Like when Peggy Carter has to fight Shuma Gorath. Shuma was created in the ‘70s by Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner as an amalgamation of a bunch of different, evil, mystical beings: he’s an eye surrounded by toothy tentacles whose name was taken from an old Conan story, while his backstory has a lot of Chthulu in it.

Comics fans might recognize him as the dark god of the Cancerverse from the climax of the excellent Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning Marvel cosmic run, but real fans know him as the only character worth playing in the Capcom Marvel fighting games.

Guardians

Marvel’s What If will also feature the late Chadwick Boseman’s final performance as T’Challa. This time, though, he’s also Star Lord. It looks like T’Challa was picked up at some point by Yondu and raised in space as part of Yondu’s Ravager team.

This is a really interesting swap: the cinematic T’Challa has been largely defined by his relationship to his parents, and to his father especially. He’s swapping one strong father figure for another here, and it’s going to be fascinating to see how much his temperament changes because of Yondu, and how much his temperament changes what Star Lord would do.

One change is front and center in the trailer: T’Challa somehow gets the Guardians of the Galaxy pulled into the battle of New York from the first Avengers movie.

Loki

We know Tom Hiddleston is reprising his role as Loki for the animated series. It looks like Loki’s somehow gathered an army of Asgardians, including Volstagg? Looks like he’s facing off against Fury, too. 

It looks like this story might branch off from the events of Thor – we get a peek at Hawkeye pointing his bow and arrow in the rain, just like his introduction in the first Thor movie.

Loki also gets his hands on the Casket of Ancient Winters again. You’ll recall that he used this weapon to try and destroy Jotunheim in the first movie, but was stopped by Thor destroying the Bifrost. 

Zombies

The biggest performance draw is almost certainly going to be Boseman’s return, but the biggest story draw is going to be the MCU debut of the Marvel Zombies. This is a concept ripped straight from the comics.

The extremely popular series was penned by Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman and drawn by Criminal artist Sean Phillips in 2005 as an extended riff on a What If story arc in Ultimate Fantastic Four. It introduced a world where all the Marvel heroes and villains were turned into flesh eating zombies who then went on to eat their way through the galaxy. It was followed by a PROFOUNDLY disturbing prequel comic by Kirkman and Phillips, Dead Days, and later by five (5) sequel miniseries.

Don’t be surprised if this Marvel’s What If…? episode spawns its own series.

Howard the Duck

After a few cameos in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies and Avengers: Endgame, our favorite comic book duck is back, hopefully in a meatier role in Marvel’s What If…?

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The post Marvel’s What If? Trailer Breakdown and MCU Easter Eggs Explained appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[lunova-rambles]

Lunova-Rambles Fandom List

For the most part, anything listed here is a fandom I wouldn't mind making content for! Constantly updated, listed in alphabetical order!

Key: ♧ I don’t know this really well/I’m not fully in the fandom/haven't watched every episode

MOVIES

(♧ can also mean I haven't read the book/s)

Avatar

Big Hero 6

Coco

Coraline

DC Extended Universe (esp. Wonder Woman and Aquaman)

Detective Pikachu

Disney Fairies

♧ Divergent

Encanto

Enola Holmes

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Frozen

Harry Potter

Home

How to Train Your Dragon (haven’t watched 3rd film)

Justin and the Knights of Valour

Klaus

Kubo and the 2 Strings

Kung Fu Panda

♧ Legend of the Guardians: Owls of Ga'Hoole

Lord of the Rings

Luca

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Missing Link

♧ Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Monster High

MonsterVerse

♧ Mortal Engines

Mr. Peabody & Sherman

Mulan

National Treasure

Now You See Me

Onward

Penguins of Madagascar

♧ Pinnochio (Guillermo del Toro)

Pirates of the Caribbean

Project Power

♧ Puss in Boots

Raya and the Last Dragon

Red Notice

Rise of the Guardians

Sing

Snowpiercer

Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse

Spirited Away

♧ The Bad Guys

The Book of Life

The Boxtrolls

The Great Wall

The Hobbit

The Incredibles

The Mitchells Vs the Machines

The Mummy

The Secret of NIMH

The Tale of Despereaux

The Tomorrow War

Tomb Raider (new & old)

Transformers

Turbo

Turning Red

♧ Uncharted

♧ Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

♧ Venom

Vivo

WALL-E

Watership Down

Wreck-It Ralph

Zootopia

☼ SHOWS

♧ Adventure Time

♧ Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

♧ Arcane

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Ben 10

Beyblade

♧ Boku no Hero Academia

Busted! (범인은 바로 너)

Carmen Sandiego (2019-2021)

Cheese in the Trap (haven’t read the Webtoon)

♧ Danny Phantom

Digimon

♧ Don't Hug Me I'm Scared

Ever After High

♧ Fairy Tail

Fate: The Winx Saga

Glitter Force

♧ Good Omens

♧ Gravity Falls

Hilda

Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous

♧ Maya and the Three

MCU Phase 4 shows

♧ Miraculous Ladybug

♧ Merlin

My Little Pony

MyStreet

NCIS/any crime tv show tbh

Ninjago/LEGO (haven’t watched 2nd half of s13)

♧ Saint Seiya

She-ra and the Princesses of Power

Sherlock

♧ Sonic the Hedgehog

♧ Squid Game

♧ Star vs the Forces of Evil

♧ Steven Universe

♧ Stranger Things

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (haven't seen the last ep)

The Dragon Prince (haven’t watched s2~)

The Little Prince (French-Canadian show)

The Hollow

The Mandolorian

♧ The Owl House

♧ The Untamed (haven't watched a SINGLE episode but I LOVE the characters)

Tokyo Mew Mew (mY CHILDHOOD AKJAFJL)

Trollhunters (haven't watched s3~)

♧ Wednesday

W: Two Worlds Apart

Voltron Legendary Defender

VIDEO GAMES

☼ I play a lot of indie games!! So I’ll do art for any ones with nice character design

Animal Crossing (Nintendo in general tbh)

Bendy and the Ink Machine

Broken Age

Bugsnax

Cuphead

Dauntless

Death Stranding

Detroit: Become Human

♧ DOOM Eternal (SOLELY FOR THE SOUNDTRACK HELL YEAHHH)

Epistory

Firewatch

Five Nights at Freddy's

Genshin Impact

God of War (newer games)

Grounded

Half-Life: Alyx

Hitman

Inscryption

Inside

Journey to the Savage Planet

Minecraft

Monster Prom

Moving Out

♧ League of Legends (character designs!!)

Little Nightmares

Operation: Tango

Overcooked!

♧ Overwatch (character designs!!)

Pokémon

Portal

Poppy Playtime

Puppeteer

Raft

Resident Evil

Sky: Children of the Light

Skylanders (character designs!!)

Slime Rancher

Spiritfarer

Stardew Valley

Subnautica

The Gardens Between

The Last Campfire

♧ The Last of Us

The Sims

The Unfinished Swan

Tick Tock: A Tale for Two

Undertale

Untitled Goose Game

Valorant

♧ We Happy Few

What Remains of Edith Finch

MISCELLANEOUS

Beetle and the Hollowbones

EPIC: The Musical

Everything on a Waffle (by Polly Horvath)

Hamilton

Guile (by Constance Cooper)

John Mulaney (I don't really like him anymore but his old jokes are still funny)

SCP Foundation

Six: The Musical

Thea Sisters

Zodiac Star Force

♧ Warrior Cats (I mainly read about it)

Webtoons

Acception

Blades of Furry

Boyfriends

Castle Swimmer

Cursed Princess Club

Emmy the Robot

High Class Homos

Hooves of Death

My Weird Roommate

Subzero

Urban Animal (I am VERY behind)

I watch a variety of YouTubers too, but I probably won't make content for them so I won't include them here. Feel free to send in an ask about your favourite YouTubers tho!

[templarhalo]

Templarhalo reviews Birds of Prey. (It’s pretty fantabulous)

HERE BE SPOILERS YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Ok without this movie, I would have not been a Cassandra Cain fan.  I would have not four, yes four ongoing fics with her as the main character.  I would not be emotionally and financially invested in the DC cinematic universe or the comics side of things. 

Which baffles me because this movie is perfect in almost every aspect,...   Except how they treated Cassandra Cain.   Which  is a fucking shame because her actress is perfect, her chemistry and relationship with Harley is perfect, and the idea of Cass growing up as this pickpocket foster kid, taken in by Harley is unconventional, but I fucking love it. 

Here’s a brief summary. After breaking up with the Joker  Harley Quinn has to make her own way as the strong, badass, indepent woman we all know she is, while dealing with the fact that without Mistah J’s  fell reputation as his significant other to shield her, a lot of people want her raped, tortured, killed and left for the crows…  Not necessarily in that order.    

To get these people off her back and save her own skin, from one of them, the infamous Black Mask. Harley agrees to recover the Bertinelli Diamond, a diamond encoded with the info for a source of 30 million dollars, Black Mask needs to fiance his take over of Gotham. Which was pickpocketed from one of his associates by our Lady and savior Cass.   

The problem is, Cass kind of ate it( (I shit you not) and Black Mask’s guys would rather cut it out of her than wait for the poor kid to take a dump   Not to mention Detective tReene Montoya (played by her Gotham Actress, which would have been a nice bit of world building if Gotham was actually in the movie continuity) building a case against Black Mask, with the aid of Black Canary   Plus Huntress is indirectly gunning for him and Harley in her own quest for revenge.   All these plot points converge into  a very satisfying climax and fight scene with a somewhat  emotionally satisfying ending. 

From  a technical standpoint this film is a spectacle.   Gotham in the day is colorful but rundown, with markets, suave evil bad guy clubs, dilapidated Chinese restaurants and abandoned amusement parks.   The fight scenes are AMAZING  with a wonderful tension and energy that makes them incredibly visualising satisfying.  Everything flows, the ladies move with an enthralling  grace that makes them breaking bones, crushing legs,and tearing through people visceral and heartstopping.  (And arousing. Like goddamn Jurnee Smollett-Bell could kill me with her legs and I’d thank her)

The problem, is none of this applies to  Cass, and this is the films major flaw besides how short it is. (One hour and forty five minutes).  If you had problems with how Harley was handled in Suicide Squad, the movie fixes it.  Black Canary gets a short but satisfying emotional arc that feels natural. She goes from a cynical, lethargic woman, content to be Black Masks “Little Bird”; A singer at his club, driver and symbol of his power/dominance over other women until her own conscience kicks in at Harley and Cass’ predicament.  Huntress also has a short but satisfying arc in which she gets her vengeance on the people who murdered her family and clearly finds a new one to fill the hole in her life, in the form of the Birds.  Reene and her portrayal is a love letter to the 80s cop/hard boiled detectives, a pure, simultaneously complicated/uncomplicated woman seeking to do good for Gotham.       

But Cass… Doesn’t feel like Cass and is criminally underutilized except as a walking mcguffin by dint of eating the Mcguffin.   She’s introduced to us a snarky tween, stuck in a cycle of shitty foster homes and a pickpocket to get by.  And that’s it.  T

here are moments where you think she'll get a cool fight scene.  Moments where you think she’ll have an emotional heart to heart with Harley,   moments where you think…she’ll do something besides run from the bad guys and get saved by the Birds of Prey/Her four moms. 

 In the end she drives into the sunset with Harley and Bruce the Hyena, but it doesn’t feel earned, satisfying as the scene is.  There is nothing implying or hinting she’s the daughter of two of the deadliest assassins in the DC universe, nothing about her running away from David Cain, nothing on her learning disabilities/selective mutism  and NOTHING, setting her up to be adopted by Batman and become Batgirl 

And this is a fucking shame, because Ella Jay Basco has a real chemistry with Margert and the rest of the cast.  She’s adorable, funny, snarky and wonderful as Cass. She brings energy and spunk and I would cut off my left hand, to see her act as Cassandra Cain, not this  generic punk kid with the name.

And I feel like this is  a HUGE problem because the movie sets up this Mother/daughter relationship, with Cass being Harley’s motivation to be a better person.  She goes from willing to hand her over to Black Mask to taking the kid under her wing.   Cass is the glue that bands the Birds of Prey together.   These lovely, dangerous, women coming together to keep a little girl safe,  doesn’t feel as emotionally satisfying as it should because Cass isn’t Cass.

While I will praise the movie for Harley’s arc of seeking her own emancipation and agency outside her abusive relationships and life of crime,  I feel like Harley’s arc should have been a question of redemption.    Cassandra’s motivation to become Batgirl was her refusal to kill again.  (Hey WB remember how in Batman Begins Bruce refused to kill a man because “I will not be an executioner.”)  

Here Cass is fine with killing. She chucks a bomb at some goons chasing her and  she kills Black Mask with a grenade in the end.

Yeah… Cass “I refuse to kill because my dad made me kill an innocent man at eight years old and killing is wrong” kills people.  

*head meet desk*

Sucide Squad, set up Harley and the squad, for an unconventional redemption arc, spite motivated it may be, yet Harley despite her line to Cass “You make me want to  be a less terrible person”  isn’t seeking to make amends for what she did as the Joker’s henchman.  (Like being an accomplice to Jason Todd’s murder).   

.Cass pickpots and steals to survive, because she’s a kid with no family passed from foster home to foster home, Harley steals because she can, steal a truck to blow up a chemical plant because she can.  Kills because she can.   (granted she does use an M79 grenade launcher with bean bag shells for one scene but besides that.) 

I like the idea of Harley taking Cass under her wing, its an unconventional but fresh idea, but it doesn’t feel entirely satisfying, and Cass not being Cass, not having an arc beyond “Go along with Harley as her apprentice” really undermines the excellent themes and message the movie is trying to convey.

Now maybe in the Suicide Squad reboot with James Gunn or a future DC film , Cass is going to leave Harley because that life of crime and killing doesn’t suit her and she realizes she’s trying to be something she’s not and I’m just being overly critical, but I still feel like “Harley and Cass seeking redemption and moving past their abusers together”  should have been where this movie left off, and it baffles me that it doesn’t from a narrative perspective.

Anway the overall themes and message of Birds of Prey are represented in Evan Mcregor’s Black Mask, a walking talking example of repressive toxic masculinity and misogyny.   A flamboyant, all but stated to  be a repressed Bi, crime lord seeking to take control of Gotham, Black Mask moves with confidence in his loud suits, and charming quirkiness,   He’s cruel, sadistic and repulsive  His mannerisms ooz terror,and insanity. He moves like a love child between Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix’s take on the Joker, Gaston from Beauty and the Beast and Joffery Baratheon from Game of Thrones.   He’s a control freak, trying to  be a badass. 

 One minute he’s the Godfather, the next he’s a brat.  He views Harley as nothing without the Joker, telling her that she needs him to protect her.   He enjoys asserting his dominance over Harley during her brief capture by having his men beat her while he eats popcorn.  He objectifies Black Canary for her singing voice and beauty..   

Black Mask asserts his power and authority over the underworld by  his control over women.  In one  frightening scene, he believes one of the women at his club is laughing at him for his failure to capture Cass, so he orders her  to stand on a table, then for her boyfriend to rip open her dress with a knife because he finds it ugly.

In summary he represents the patriarchy.  He represents sexist, abusive men.   He’s a representation of social norms and ideals that are repressive and disgusting, and rob women of their agency, and self-worth. He represents the use of violence, not for noble reasons, but as a means to control women and lash out at those that defy him and supposedly wronged him .

Furthering this line of thought are  the costumes. Black Canary’s costumes represent the amount of control, Black Mask has in her life.  When we first see her, Dinah is wearing a long black netted evening gown that accents her legs as she sings “It’s a Man’s Man’s World”. Later she wears  a blue tank top and gold, tightfitting pants clearly meant to draw our gaze to her ass and thighs. When she’s Black Mask’s driver, she’s wearing a Bra/crop top that bares her midriff under a short blue blaze, but when she decides she’s going to defy him, she wears a yellow tank top and jeans with  a gold belt.

Harley’s costumes are as eclectic as she is, with her DIY caution tape shawl, stamped tops and cut up shorts.  Huntress’s outfits are all black leather and punkish athletic wear, utilitarian and elegant in their simplicity while Reene wears  a  “I shave my balls for this” t-shirt reflecting her uncouth, blunt demeanor, as well as button down  dress shirts and slacks for the climactic asskicking montage .  

Cass is a kid,who clearly doesn’t have the funds for super nice clothes. She;s running around in ratty shorts and a worn out hoody with  a red windbreaker, with an orange bandanna askew on her head.  At the end, when she rides off with Harley, she copying Harley’s style.

Speaking of costumes, one thing I appreciate is that instead of the male gaze and sexualisation, we get what I like to call “passive fan service”  What I mean is that instead of tracking shots on Harley’s ass or boob shoots, like in Suicide Squad  the camera just lets these women’s beauty do the talking. 

 Huntress is wearing a sports bra and tactical pants for the climax, but the camera doesn’t linger on her boobs.  A primary example of this is a lot of Padme’s scenes in Episodes II and III of Star Wars.  Lucas knows Natalie Portman is a gorgeous woman and he doesn’t need to remind us by deliberate camera shots.  He lets Natalie herself and Trisha Biggar’s excellent costumes do it for us. 

Also one thing I really… really liked was how in the big penultimate fight, Harley actually passes Dinah a hair tie so she can get her hair out of the way. So for like a minute, she’s beating the ever loving fuck out of goons with her legs as she ties up her hair.  A very nice case of reality ensures.

In conclusion Birds of Prey is another notch in the belt for the DC cinematic universe, a solid, fun film with  an excellent cast with clear chemistry, hampered by character derailment that undermines its sorely needed themes and message it's trying to convey.   The plot is  fast paced, but doesn't feel rushed even though it’s only a little over an hour long.  It’s uncompromisingly  bold, bloody and hilarious. The lack of a proper post credits scene is somewhat annoying and I'm very disappointed how Cass was handled , but this is by no means a terrible film. 

Overall I give it a 8.9 out of 10.  Highly recommend you go see it. Drag your friends, smuggle in as much candy and drinks as you can.  Buy it when it comes out on DVD.   If you’re a Cass fan, reread the Puckett run or pick up her new graphic novel Shadow of the Batgirl to wash out the bittersweet taste this will give you.  Speaking of Kelley Puckett, he was actually listed in the “Special thanks to…”  in the credits, which i’m sure many will appreciate.

These following posts and thoughts on the film I recommend.

https://dcwomenofcolor.tumblr.com/post/190693985900/how-would-you-fix-bop-cass

https://wits-writing.tumblr.com/post/190718974642/birds-of-prey-movie-review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YeFJjoQoec

[beesandwasps]

In cop shows, people who demand a lawyer (or refuse to talk, citing their rights) are always guilty, cops who act without a warrant are always vindicated, public defenders are evil for casting doubt on the noble cops who are Just Doing Their Jobs, and much more. It’s a form of subtle propaganda to try and convince people that in the real world the same things are true. (This has been true since the 1950s!)

Similarly: I would be willing to bet that there was at least one somebody, at some point in the process of scriptwriting and greenlighting production on all those superhero movies, who was very definitely thinking about what a good propaganda point it would be if they could convince people that Sometimes The Good Guys Need To Undermine The Rule Of Law, and that There Are Problems Government Cannot Address (But Very Rich People Can If We Would Only Let Them Do What They Want — it’s also not at all a coincidence that Batman and Iron Man have multiple movies and, say, The Flash is going to get one soon).

It’s like the way the “ticking time bomb” scenario portrayed in 24 was used in the real world to try to justify torture (I’m old enough that I saw it happening) — sure, that exact thing isn’t going to happen in real life, but if the propagandists can make you agree that such a situation might justify such a course of action, then they’ve got you to agree that that course of action had better be funded and ready and the people doing it should not be hindered, let alone prosecuted, because they are Just Doing Their Jobs and trying to protect us, right? If they can convince you that Batman shouldn’t be subject to judicial review, then they’ve established that you’re open to eliminating judicial review, and from there it’s just a matter of negotiation.

If it were possible to go and look at parallel universes, I would be willing to bet money that in the worlds where there was no Marvel or DC cinematic universe, Donald Trump lost in 2016.

[dotsonabrahamsen63-blog]

Remembering Stan Lee: The Amazing Origin Story Of The Marvel Comics Scribe

Remembering Stan Lee: The Amazing Origin Story Of The Marvel Comics Scribe

Strangely enough, Lee said he would cast himself as the opposite of all that in his own imagination, drawing a comparison to the cynical, Stan Lee Thank You For The Memories Shirt uncompromising newspaper editor J. Jonah Jameson. “I’m very frustrated that by the time they made the movie I was too old to play the role,” Lee said. “I modeled him after me. He was dumb and loudmouthed and opinionated. Of all the characters he helped create, Peter Parker remained his favorite. “In a way Spider-Man is more special than the others,” he said. What made him Lee’s favorite? “Nothing ever goes right for Peter. I think for most people in the world, nothing ever goes right. He hates people he’s never seen — people he’s never known — with equal intensity — with equal venom. “Now, we’re not trying to say it’s unreasonable for one human being to bug another. But, although anyone has the right to dislike another individual, it’s totally irrational, patently insane to condemn an entire race — to despise an entire nation — to vilify an entire religion. Sooner or later, we must learn to judge each other on our own merits. Sooner or later, if man is ever to be worthy of his destiny, we must fill our hearts with tolerance. For then, and only then, will we be truly worthy of the concept that man was created in the image of God ― a God who calls us ALL ― His children. 2.99. Available in North America and Europe. Oscorp Search & Destroy Pack - In The Amazing Spider-Manvideo game, Spider-Man has his own smartphone to help navigate around Manhattan, locate missions and challenges and fight crime. With this pack, Spider-Man's smartphone will feature two mini-games inspired by classic arcade fun. 2.99. Available in North America and Europe. Lizard Rampage Pack - The notorious Lizard is on the loose again in Manhattan! Take on the role of Dr. Connors' terrifying alter ego in a race against time. Go berserk through the streets using his devastating stomp attack and tail swipe to defeat Oscorp guards and earn mega points.

Lee knew his work was different, proudly noting that stories were drawn out over several issues not to make money but to better develop characters, situations and themes. He didn’t neglect his villains, either. One, the Moleman, went bad when he was ostracized because of his appearance, Lee wrote, adding it was “almost unheard of in a comic book” to explain why a character was what he was. Lee’s direct influence faded in the 1970s as he gave up some of his editorial duties at Marvel. But with his trademark white mustache and tinted sunglasses, he was the industry’s most recognizable figure. The Amazing Spider-Man is getting a whole bunch of DLC today, including a few different packs that will have you playing as people other than the titular wall-crawler. The Lizard Rampage pack will open up a level where you play as the Lizard, along with a new Spidey suit to wear. 49.99 on Steam, including complete integration with Steam achievements. A Nintendo 3DS demo is also now available in the Nintendo eShop. Rhino Challenge Pack - Take control of the massive, genetically engineered villain Rhino and rampage around Manhattan in an exclusive gameplay challenge of pure destruction! As Rhino, players will be able to unleash his formidable powers to destroy anything and everything in his path in a timed event full of speed, combo streaks, and of course, a ton of things to break! The Associated Press in a 2006 interview. Lee considered the comic-book medium an art form and he was prolific: By some accounts, he came up with a new comic book every day for 10 years. He hit his stride in the 1960s when he brought the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Spider-Man, Iron Man and numerous others to life. His heroes, meanwhile, were a far cry from virtuous do-gooders such as rival DC Comics' Superman. The Fantastic Four fought with each other. Spider-Man was goaded into superhero work by his alter ego, Peter Parker, who suffered from unrequited crushes, money problems and dandruff.

XXX in the world of comic books were awesome. I happen to think they’re not exactly what a lot of people think but I don’t doubt their size and endurance. I knew him since 1970, worked for him a few times, talked with him at length and fielded an awful lot of phone calls from him asking me questions about comic books he worked on. He really did have a bad memory, if not when he first started telling people he had a bad memory, then certainly later on as he turned more and more into the Stan Lee character he’d created for himself. That’s all I’m going to write now. That’s where it begins and ends with me. To those of us who have been so deeply affected by the humanity of his imagination, the understanding of reaching beyond our potential and the necessity of tapping into our immeasurable imaginations, we thank you and are forever indebted. Rest In Peace Dear Stan. You made our time here a better one. What a man. What a life. When I first broke into Hollywood, he welcomed me with open arms and some very sage advice I’ll forever take to heart. A true icon who impacted generations around the world. Rest in love, my friend. I have to say I am deeply touched by the passing of Stan Lee… I always looked forward to seeing his cameo parts in all his great movies. 1 - Maybe you haven’t noticed, but there is a spiritual quality in all the Stan Lee movies�� always the good guys win. Eventually, not always right away, but eventually. And his movies most of the time ended on an upbeat thought… that allowed us to ponder our existence. 2 - Stan Lee was also a man who could have been a musician but he was not good at music at all.

Legendary Marvel Comics co-creator Stan Lee — famous for giving the world beloved superheroes including Spider-Man, Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk — died Monday. According to TMZ, Lee suffered a number of illnesses over the last year, including pneumonia. His daughter J.C. told the site, “My father loved all of his fans. Lee was born Stanley Martin Lieber to Romanian-born Jewish immigrants in New York City, spending much of his early life in Washington Heights. He returned to Timely Comics in 1945 and married wife Joan two years later. In 1950, Timely Comics publisher Martin Goodman tasked Lee with creating a new superhero team to rival DC Comics’ Justice League. “Let’s lay it right on the line. Bigotry and racism are among the deadliest social ills plaguing the world today. But, unlike a team of costumed super-villains, they can’t be halted with a punch in the snoot, or a zap from a ray gun. The only way to destroy them is to expose them — to reveal them for the insidious evils they really are. The bigot is an unreasoning hater — one who hates blindly, fanatically, indiscriminately. If his hang-up is black men, he hates ALL black men. If a redhead once offended him, he hates ALL redheads. If some foreigner beat him to a job, he’s down on ALL foreigners. Stan Lee, the comic book mastermind who changed the landscape of the superhero genre, has died at age 95. Lee revolutionized the comic world by creating Marvel Comics superheroes such as Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four and The Incredible Hulk. An attorney for Lee's daughter, J.C. Lee, said the creative dynamo who revolutionized the comic world by introducing human frailties in superheroes such as Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four and The Incredible Hulk, was declared dead Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. In a statement to Fox News Shane Duffy, CEO of Stan Lee’s POW! I think everybody loves things that are bigger than life. I think of them as fairy tales for grown-ups," he told The Associated Press in a 2006 interview. "We all grew up with giants and ogres and witches. Well, you get a little bit older and you're too old to read fairy tales.

How long would this superhero movie thing last? He didn’t know. He was glad to be along for the ride. Happy to see the old characters he helped create being brought to life onscreen. We began talking about the origin of Spider-Man, born in 1962 after a string of other successes had made Stan Lee a powerhouse scribe at Marvel Comics. He had started working there when he was 17. Back then, Marvel Comics was known as Timely Comics, and he was known as Stanley Lieber, son of Jewish Romanian immigrants from the Bronx. His dream was to become a writer. But before any of that could happen, he earned cash by working a series of small jobs. As a theater usher, his first claim to fame was tripping and falling while showing Eleanor Roosevelt to her seat. “Are you all right, young man? Remember, this was six years before Iron Man and the launch of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The films were not yet interconnected, not that there were many to string together. Stan Lee cameos were not yet a phenomenon. He had played a beachside hotdog vendor in the X-Men film. That was it. (“You missed me?” he teased. “I was like the lead of the movie! ] idea was, I was selling sunglasses in Times Square and I was talking to this little girl, showing her a pair of glasses as Peter Parker walks by,” Lee recounted in his gruff, nasally voice. Think about the incredible characters that derived from the mind of this man. Iron Man, the X-Men, Thor, Daredevil and Dr. Strange. These are characters everyone knows and loves. Look at this list of Stan Lee's creations and think about which ones have gone onto success in other media as well as had very successful runs in comics. Every single one of them almost. Granted, a lot of that success is due to the efforts and contributions of those writers and artists who developed the characters through the years. But Stan Lee's fingerprint is on each and every one of them and will always be seen and felt. Can you name one single creator in comics that has contributed as much in terms of longevity, creativity and uniqueness? You can't because there are none. There are plenty of creators that have made great contributions and have written or drawn amazing characters and stories. But none can say they changed the face of the industry quite like Stan Lee can. No matter what happens from this day forward; no matter what superstar creators land at the Big Two. Stan Lee, Marvel Comics' own living legend, stands head and shoulders above the rest. LOS ANGELES (AP) — Stan Lee, the creative dynamo who revolutionized the comic book and helped make billions for Hollywood by introducing human frailties in Marvel superheroes such as Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and the Incredible Hulk, died Monday. Lee was declared dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to Kirk Schenck, an attorney for Lee’s daughter, J.C. As the top writer at Marvel Comics and later as its publisher, Lee was widely considered the architect of the contemporary comic book. He revived the industry in the 1960s by offering the costumes and action craved by younger readers while insisting on sophisticated plots, college-level dialogue, satire, science fiction, even philosophy.

[junker-town]

An up-to-date look at the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney

Expect a lot of sequels.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe closed out its “Infinity Saga” last summer with the releases of Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home, which ended a 23-film cycle of big, ambitious, and thrilling storytelling. Despite what felt like a logical beginning, middle and end to its first few phases of films, Disney and Marvel have no plans to slow down anytime soon.

Captain America, Iron Man, and some of the other key Avengers from the last decade-plus are now set aside for characters stepping forward into bigger roles — such as Black Panther and Captain Marvel — and characters we have not seen in this iteration of films yet. With Disney’s merger with Fox, characters like the X-Men and Fantastic Four are on the way with Marvel Studios now having the rights to the majority of the storied comic company’s intellectual property. This comes after decades of heroes’ film rights being divided among several studios.

Here is the full list of projects that are currently in development for the next phases of the MCU.

Theatrical Releases

Black Widow (November 6, 2020)

There had been rumors for years that Scarlett Johansson would get her own solo film and now it is set to lead Marvel’s “Phase Four” as the first-post Infinity Saga movie. However, this film is set to take place between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. Other cast members include David Harbour, Rachel Weisz and Florence Pugh, among others. Taskmaster will be the villain in this movie, who is known for his ability to copy the powers of the heroes he is facing.

The Eternals (February 12, 2021)

Marvel is never afraid to throw something new and weird at its audience, and did so with massive success with the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. The Eternals is set to tell the story of a race of human-god aliens created by beings called Celestials that have lived on Earth for 7,000 years among us. The cast includes Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Angeline Jolie, Gemma Chan, Lauren Ridloff, Salma Hayek, Brian Tyree Henry, Lia McHugh, and Kit Harington, to name a few from the massive lineup. Chloé Zhao will helm the film.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (May 7, 2021)

The MCU has a way of existing as genre films inside of a superhero film packaging. To name a few examples, we have seen political thrillers (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) and heist films (Ant-Man), but now Marvel steps into its first kung fu-inspired take. Shang-Chi is a master of the martial arts and will be played by relative newcomer Simu Liu. We have actually heard of the Ten Rings before, as they were the terrorist organization introduced when Tony Stark was kidnapped in Iron Man. Then, we met its leader, The Mandarin, in Iron Man 3. Except we didn’t because that was a fake out. Tony Leung is set to play the “real” Mandarin and Awkwafina is also set for a role in the film, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton.

Untitled Spider-Man Sequel (November 5, 2021)

Things were dicey here for a bit with Disney and Sony, who owns Spider-Man’s film rights, having a contract dispute in the summer of 2019. However, both sides came to an agreement and Tom Holland’s Spidey is back on track with Zendaya also set to return and Jon Watts directing once again.

Thor: Love and Thunder (February 11, 2022)

Thor is one of the only original Avengers set to play a role in the next phase of films and both Chris Hemsworth and director Taika Waititi are set to return. Tessa Thompson will also return as Valkyrie and Natalie Portman is making her return to the role of Jane Foster in the film. Foster is set to become the female version of Thor in this next installment with Christian Bale making his MCU debut as the film’s villain, though we do not yet know who he is playing.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (March 25, 2022)

Doctor Strange’s solo outing was solid, but did not do a ton to movie the needle among MCU fans. That changed with the key role that he played in both Infinity War and Endgame and now he is back for another film centered around him. This time, Benedict Cumberbatch’s Strange will be joined by another Marvel hero in the form of Scarlet Witch, played by Elizabeth Olsen. Benedict Wong is set to return as Wong with Chiwetel Ejiofor also back to play Karl Mordo. The events of this film will be tied into the Scarlet Witch Disney+ series WandaVision (which we will discuss here a bit later). The film will be directed by Sam Raimi of the Evil Dead franchise and the 2000s Spider-Man films.

Black Panther II (May 6, 2022)

When Black Panther became the cultural phenomenon it was after coming out in February of 2018 — eventually earning a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars — it was only a matter of time before we got a sequel. Not much is known about the project other than Ryan Coogler returning to direct and the expectation is that the majority of the cast from the last film should return, as well. The rumor is that the sequel may feature Namor, who actually preceded Aquaman as the Atlantean/human hybrid character in pop culture.

Untitled Captain Marvel Sequel (July 8, 2022)

The only thing that is known about this film is that Brie Larson is set to reprise her role as the titular hero. Seeing as her solo film took place in the 90s and Endgame brought her into the present day, there is no shortage of possibilities for what her next outing might look like.

Unscheduled theatrical projects

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

After a brief brush with controversy over old tweets that saw James Gunn fired from the job of directing this movie, all sides came to an agreement and he was brought back. This is expected to close out the story thread of his iteration of the Guardians, but it is going to have to wait until he finishes work on DC’s The Suicide Squad, which he signed on to direct when he was originally fired by Marvel.

Untitled Ant-Man and The Wasp Sequel

A more recent addition to the upcoming slate of films with news of its development dropping in April 2020. Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly are expected to be back in their roles, and Peyton Reed will be back to direct after doing the last two films.

Blade

This was the surprise of all surprises when its development was announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2019. Mahershala Ali will be playing the role after lobbying Marvel to bring back the character, and the Oscar winner reaching out was too good for the studio to pass up. That is all we know about this film for now, but it has fans of the vampire hunter excited to see what Ali and the studio can come up with.

Fantastic Four

It is only a matter of time before we get to see Marvel’s iconic foursome of heroes hit the screen again after the Disney-Fox merger went through. After a few “meh” outings in the mid-2000s and a putrid reboot attempt in 2015, the characters are back where they belong. All we know so far is that the studio is developing the project with no other details available at this time. Fans have been clamoring for the real-life couple of John Krasinski and Emily Blunt to play Reed Richards and Sue Storm, respectively. You can add my name to the list of people who would love to see that casting.

X-Men

We are probably far away from the X-Men making their debut in the MCU, which is not the worst thing in the world. Fox’s franchise ran for almost 20 years and it is going to take some time for people to cleanse their pallets of the Hugh Jackman/Patrick Stewart-era of characters. They are on the way, but it is going to take some time and they might be the last of these projects that we see on the screen.

Disney+ Shows

These will appear exclusively on the Disney+ streaming platform, but Marvel maintains they will have cinematic budgets and that everything will connect to the theatrical releases, so this is a brand new layer to the MCU.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (August 2020)

Now that Black Widow has been pushed to the fall, this is the next MCU property we are set to see. This series is set to follow Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) after the events of Endgame, where an old Captain America passed his shield and mantle on to Wilson. Daniel Brühl is set to return as Helmut Zemo of Civil War fame and Emily VanCamp returning as Sharon Carter. Wyatt Russell joins the cast as John Walker, the U.S. government created successor to Steve Rogers.

WandaVision (December 2020)

As we mentioned before, this series is set to lead into the events of the Doctor Strange sequel with Wanda Maximoff involved in a big way. Paul Bettany is also set to return as Vision, as it appears that Wanda has created an alternate reality where they can live together among the backdrop of sitcom-style settings from multiple decades (yeah, it’s going to get really dang weird). An adult version of Monica Rambeau, who was a child in Captain Marvel, is set to debut and be played by Teyonah Parris. Randall Park and Kat Dennings are going to return to the MCU in their roles of Jimmy Woo and Darcy Lewis, respectively.

Loki (Early 2021)

Loki stealing the Tesseract in an alternate timeline in Endgame screamed Disney+ series, and now Marvel is doing just that. The series will see Tom Hiddleston reprising his role as the God of Mischief as an alternate version of his 2012 self traveling back in time and altering history. Owen Wilson and Richard E. Grant are also set to join in some form or fashion.

What If...? (Mid-2021)

This is going to be an animated anthology series that explores how events of the MCU would have happened by changing different variables, a la if Peggy Carter was given the super soldier serum instead of Steve Rogers. The original actors from MCU films will return to reprise their roles in a voice acting capacity for the series, which will star Jeffrey Wright as The Watcher. A second season has already been greenlit, as well.

Hawkeye (2022)

A limited series is set to come for the bow-and-arrow wielder with Jeremy Renner reprising his role as Clint Barton, which would see him pass on his mantle of Hawkeye to Kate Bishop (reportedly to be portrayed by Hailee Steinfeld).

Ms. Marvel (2022)

Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel has been a recent character in the comics with rapidly growing popularity among fans. Not a whole lot is out there on the series other than Bisha K. Ali being hired as the head writer. It is also possible Ms. Marvel is introduced in Captain Marvel’s sequel.

Moon Knight (2022)

Moon Knight is Marvel’s answer to Batman, except he has a dissociative identity disorder. So ... that’s an interesting concept. In addition to his Disney+ series, Moon Knight will be appearing in future MCU films, as well.

She-Hulk (2022)

She-Hulk is set to revolve around Jennifer Walters, the cousin of Bruce Banner/Hulk who gains powers after receiving a blood transfusion from him. Walters is a skilled lawyer and has often appeared as representation to heroes and other enhanced beings over the years. Another ... interesting concept. Marvel is reportedly looking for an “Alison Brie-type” to play this character. The lead writer on the series is set to be Jessica Gao of Rick and Morty fame.

[aion-rsa]

Marvel’s Road to the Thunderbolts in the MCU

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

The first phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe had a simple mission: build up to the creation of the Avengers. The next two phases went further by setting the stage for Thanos and his quest for the Infinity Stones, culminating in one of the biggest movies of all time in Avengers: Endgame. While MCU Phase 4 is a mix of Disney+ TV shows and theatrical movie releases, there hasn’t been an established narrative goal just yet. So what are they building towards?

One belief is that we’re getting an MCU incarnation of the Thunderbolts or its sister team, the Dark Avengers.

The Thunderbolts first showed up in 1997, created by Kurt Busiek. In the aftermath of the Onslaught event, the Fantastic Four and Avengers were seemingly vaporized. Not only were these two major teams gone, but they were the superheroes people trusted the most. What remained was the likes of Spider-Man, the X-Men, and the Hulk. Not exactly media sweethearts.

To fill this heroic void, Baron Zemo came up with a scheme where he took members of the Masters of Evil, dressed them up with fake superhero identities, and had them gain the public’s trust in hopes that it would lead to world domination. Despite being a ruse, certain members of the Thunderbolts came to realize they wanted to truly be heroes and opposed Zemo. Hawkeye eventually took over the team and they became a group of outlaw heroes fighting for redemption. A reformed Zemo soon took the reins again, once again trying to take over the world…but this time for the good of all humanity.

The Thunderbolts then became a government-run team and acted as Marvel’s counterpart to DC’s Suicide Squad. New leader Norman Osborn politicked his way into running the Avengers, where he copied Zemo’s old idea of dressing up villains as heroes. And so, the Dark Avengers were born, featuring such members as Bullseye pretending to be Hawkeye and Venom pretending to be Spider-Man. Unlike the Thunderbolts, the Dark Avengers were an example of failed redemption on all fronts and the team crumbled. Once Osborn was ousted, Luke Cage took over and the group became far less corrupt.

The Thunderbolts team has been reborn again and again. It’s been seen as a force of good, a force of evil pretending to be good, and a force of evil taking down worse threats. And now it looks to be coming to the MCU.

Let’s look at who will be and who could be major players to this plot down the line:

Valentina Allegra de Fontaine

In the comics, Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine was a triple agent who constantly either worked for SHIELD or against it while being an on-again/off-again love interest of Nick Fury. So she’s perfect for whatever they’re doing with her as she plays up a more curious version of Fury’s iconic visit to Tony Stark’s mansion from the Iron Man post-credits.

We don’t know who Valentina works for and how high up the ladder she is, but she does appear to be setting up something. Whatever her Thunderbolts-like team is called, we’re left wondering why they will exist and how many movies and TV shows will we have to sit through before we finally get an answer.

US Agent

John Walker’s role in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was one of the more interesting parts of the show, even if they didn’t quite land the ending. The US government’s attempt at a new Captain America meant well, but he was only the right person for the job on paper. Too haunted by his military exploits, too frustrated by not getting the respect he wanted, and feeling inadequate due to not being a super soldier, Walker injected himself with a black market serum that gave him the physical boost he needed. It also helped drive him over the edge when Walker’s best friend and partner Battlestar died during a mission and he got a bit too violent while in public.

Disgraced and discharged from his position, Walker was visited by Valentina, who gave him a new lease on life as US Agent. Valentina’s people realize that someone with Walker’s abilities shouldn’t be discarded so easily. Take away the idea that he’s tarnishing a legacy and someone like him could be very, very useful.

In the comics, a wheelchair-bound Walker acted as a warden at the Raft, Marvel’s supervillain prison and, for a time, the headquarters for the Thunderbolts. He did lead the team very, very briefly when it was retitled Dark Avengers, but the series was cancelled immediately after and it was quietly forgotten about. Still, the adventure did allow him to regrow his missing limbs!

For the MCU, this does suggest that this team won’t be a publicly-celebrated unit. You can use US Agent to kick ass all you want, but I doubt Valentina wants a media spotlight on him in any way.

Yelena Belova

As shown in the post-credits for Black Widow, Yelena Belova has been working for Valentina for at least a little while. She’s a paid assassin and she’s going to be going after Hawkeye in the near future on his upcoming Disney+ series. Much like US Agent, she’s a darker replacement of an Avenger who has been taken off the board. Maybe not as easily manipulated as Walker will likely be, though.

The Yelena version of Black Widow was a member of the Thunderbolts in the comics…sort of. It eventually turned out that it was really Natasha disguising herself as Yelena for the sake of doing undercover work against Norman Osborn. Well, I think we can agree that they won’t be doing that twist any time soon.

The Abomination

“We have a Hulk.”

If they’re building a roster full of Avengers knockoffs, it seems rather suspicious that Emil Blonsky is suddenly becoming relevant again. Not only is he supposed to be coming back for the She-Hulk show, but he has a cameo in the Shang-Chi trailer where he’s taking on Wong in an underground cage fight.

Abomination is someone that the government wanted on the Avengers from the very beginning, even in spite of the damage he caused in Harlem. He’s no longer in prison and the events of She-Hulk could end up working in his favor legally. The cage fighting may suggest that he’s a bit aimless, but for a soldier who loves nothing more than to fight, Valentina’s team might be the perfect place for him.

In terms of the comics, Abomination never had anything to do with the Thunderbolts. Though now that I think about it, the Thunderbolts series did a one point focus on super-powered individuals taking part in underground fight clubs. Hm…

Various Thunderbolts Leaders

As mentioned, there have been a lot of different variations of the Thunderbolts and the team has had a handful of different leaders to push the focus in different directions. Four of those leaders happen to have recent roles in the MCU: Baron Zemo, Hawkeye, the Winter Soldier, and General Ross. It’s also very possible that the team is named after the latter considering his nickname is “Thunderbolt Ross.”

Luke Cage and Wilson Fisk are also notable Thunderbolts leaders, but the wonky relationship with the Netflix shows makes them unlikely to get involved.

Hawkeye and Bucky could easily take over the operation and add a little purity to the situation. But if Baron Zemo gets involved? Man, that could be unpredictable and interesting.

Ghost

With Norman Osborn in charge of things, Ghost was thrown into the Thunderbolts and became a major recurring member. Considering he was blatantly written as being Marvel’s Rorschach, it wasn’t he biggest deal when the MCU gender-swapped him and gave him a different personality. The version from Ant-Man and the Wasp is still pretty nihilistic when it comes to authority.

Ghost has been a huge question mark since the mid-credits scene of Ant-Man and the Wasp. The heroes were trying to mine the quantum materials that would normalize Ghost and heal her, only for Thanos’ snap to kick in. We don’t even know if Ghost went away due to the snap, but it’s possible that she was abandoned by those who said they’d help her and that could push her in a very dangerous position.

Considering her past as a SHIELD weapon, she’d make for an interesting member of the group.

Taskmaster

Taskmaster is a lot like Ghost. Not just in that she’s a gender-swapped version of the comic original with a different personality, history, and mission but in the same character arc of going from villain to someone with a new lease on life and opportunity to be more. Taskmaster was last seen being rescued by an army of liberated Black Widows. With her own future to decide, she’s basically in the same boat as Yelena, so it’s fully believable that she too might be working for Valentina.

Also, Taskmaster only just recently joined the Thunderbolts in the comics. That could be an intentional attempt at synergy. Marvel’s been pulling that kind of thing for years.

White Vision

WandaVision ended with the confusing fate of Vision’s reanimated body. SWORD was able to awaken Vision, now without his memories, personality, or color scheme. White Vision fought a magical construct of his original self (AKA “WandaVision”) and allowed his memories to be reinstated. After that, he peaced out and flew off to parts unknown.

Scarlet Witch is meant to be a major player in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but I’m not expecting White Vision to be a part of that. It would make sense for White Vision to pop up as part of a group of grim doppelgangers. Even if he’s just a dark doppelganger of himself. I imagine the guy needs something constructive to do while keeping a low profile.

Speaking of Doctor Strange…

Karl Mordo

Remember when Mordo became so disillusioned with the Ancient One that he crippled a man for the sake of making a point about how much sorcerers suck? Then he was all, “Haha, I’m going to get rid of all magic users!” Yeah, that was about 10 years ago according to the MCU’s chronology. Good hustle, guy.

The whole Multiverse of Madness thing makes me wonder how much of a role Mordo will have to play in it. And that’s fine because you know what? I bet Valentina would love to have someone like Mordo on her roster. Not only would she have a Dr. Strange counterpart, but getting rid of all magic on Earth seems like the kind of thing a shadowy operative might get behind.

The Vulture

The Spider-Man/Sony deal mucks this up, especially if they’re pushing for some kind of Sinister Six situation, but since Spider-Man: Homecoming, I’ve always thought Vulture would be a perfect member of the MCU Thunderbolts.

See, the thing about Vulture is that the Michael Keaton version is absolutely nothing like the Mr. Burns lookalike comic version outside of fighting Spider-Man and having the ability to fly. In fact, MCU Vulture has a lot more in common with Abner Jenkins. Jenkins started off as blue collar working man who later used his engineering genius to become a Spider-Man supervillain as the Beetle.

As a founding Thunderbolts member, Jenkins became MACH-I (renaming himself after many armor updates) and was one of the first to realize that maybe he was better off being a good guy. He even led the team for a little bit. Considering how sympathetic and likeable MCU Vulture has been, some kind of Thunderbolts/Dark Avengers situation could help redeem him down the line.

Those Yet to be Introduced

Just like MACH, there are certain key members of the comics Thunderbolts who have yet to show up in the MCU. Perhaps we’ll see them soon enough. For instance, there is speculation that Moonstone will probably be a villain in the Captain Marvel sequel The Marvels. Not only does she have similar powers as the heroine, but she also posed as her in Dark Avengers.

The Fixer/Techno is another big one as the team’s resident tech guy and loyal Zemo henchman. Atlas, who has size-changing powers, is easily someone who can show up in the next Ant-Man movie. Jolt is…actually, we really don’t need Jolt.

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The biggest name to not show up is Songbird. Formerly the villain Screaming Mimi, Melissa Gold is practically the heart and soul of the Thunderbolts. She’s the one who came out of it better than anyone to the point that she was even an Avenger for a little while. If you want to put together a cynical Avengers knockoff and have someone turn it into something optimistic, Songbird is the one you need to throw in.

The post Marvel’s Road to the Thunderbolts in the MCU appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3z9IfTW

[anautisticdragon-blog]

Marvel vs. DC

I've wanted to write this one for a while, but I'm going to sum it up before I begin: DC does diversity and social issues better than Marvel could manage in its wettest, wildest dreams.

That's going to annoy fans. So let's even include my personal bias, just as a disclaimer: I'm really not fond of Marvel's lack of continuity, nor am I a fan of Bendis.

With Morrison's New X-Men, Grant looked at the problems which plagued the X-Men and how every time the books would just go back to telling the same stories. He wanted to unshackle these books from that curse, and he set up the means to do precisely that.

He weaved everything together so masterfully, Corporation X, the second mutant boom, the much needed nod to how mutants aren't all just these beautiful poster models, et cetera. Honestly, how can you stand for the downtrodden if you come across as the one per cent?

Being an X-Man must've had an amazing dental, physical, and mental health plan. No one dared to even be anything less than a perfect icon of the status quo, it was basically what Magneto always wanted. It was really quite difficult to distinguish between what separated him from Xavier.

Grant fixed that. Mutants could be less than beautiful and that was okay, mutants didn't always need to have MacGuffin powers and that was okay too. Then, at the very end, he edited the Marvel Universe to remove mutant prejudice.

That's wild.

It's the end goal of everything they'd just been striving for since the '80s, and the reason they had been locked in this neverending cycle. Now the X-Men could tell new stories. Stories about how it was okay to be interesting, diverse, and not just a living god. It was incredible, I had more hope for the X-Men at that point than I ever had.

Marvel retconned it with the very next issue. Prejudice returns, everyone is beautiful again, and every gift Grant gave them was generally pissed over. Marvel hates continuity. They're so wantonly, gaggingly desperate to tell exactly the same stories over and over and over again.

One of the worst casualties of it all was Beast. Before Morrison, Beast was nothing more than a one-dimensional, Silver Age character. Grant gave him a third-dimension, a dichotomy. Certainly, it was a bit of an old trope (Grant loves those), and yet he used it to give Hank McCoy depth he'd never had in all his years as an X-Man.

Bendis took that away. No more feline Beast for us, no more dichotomy, no more third-dimension. Hank is just a Silver Age airhead again.

Marvel is basically Groundhog Day. This is their problem and I promise you this will all tie together and go somewhere. This Groundhog Day syndrome is at the root of all of Marvel's problems, and why DC are trouncing them right now on every story-telling front.

So, they did it with Iron Man, too.

Tony Stark was always weirdly technophobic for what could only be described as a self-made transhumanist. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you can see him operating on himself to give himself upgrades. Not in the comics.

Warren Ellis was the first to set out to fix this -- Extremis. Extremis was pretty okay. I'd say it was definitely a step in the right direction, but Tony still had this technophobic edge to his personality that caused dissonance in anyone who had any minor level of familiarity with technology.

Tony seemed oddly unfamiliar with the tech he'd supposedly been building. Had it turned out that -- in fact -- Tony was just a pretty face, and the real tinkerer and putterer was hiding in his shadow? That would've been interesting!

They didn't go that way, though. So they had to cure Tony of his technophobia. From Extremis we moved onto Matt Fraction's run where Tony really learned to trust technology; In fact, it proved to be more reliable and faithful to him than people did. His distrust moved away from technology to authority, government, and powerful figures like the Mandarin. This provided a strong focus, it provided the reader with reasons.

It reminds me of Mark Waid and Eobard Thawne. Eobard, the Reverse Flash, was just a two-bit Silver Age airhead of a villain. Just evil because evil, no more to it than that. Waid fleshed him out by having him become an obsessive stalker, a crazed fan whose vision of Barry Allen was so idealised that the real Barry couldn't live up to it.

This gave Eobard Thawne a reason to be Barry's villain. Similarly, Tony's newfound distrust of very powerful people and authority gave him a reason to distrust a self-styled, preening, entitled figure like The Mandarin. A character who fancifully imagined himself as an emperor.

It also allowed Tony to explore technology and realise that he wanted to spend more time simply working on it and helping to create heroes to combat men like The Mandarin than showboating hismelf. It set up the scene for both Rhodey and Pepper to replace him as Iron Corps.

Continuity! Evolution! A bold new di--RETCON! Now Tony's a technophobe again who was starkly (heh) terrified of his old technology and went back to sticks, rocks, and showboating because that's what Tony does at Marvel.

And this brings me to why I dislike Marvel. You might've heard that their editors actually blamed their push for diversity for their waning sales. It couldn't have anything to do with this Groundhog Day syndrome of theirs. No, no no no. Of course not. It has to be diversity, right?

Well, no. And, weirdly, yes? You see, their attitude toward diversity is inauthentic. It isn't genuine. I think everyone's catching on. That black kid who's going to be Iron Man? That's Cat Beast, you see? Soon to be replaced by technophobic Tony, completing the cycle.

The new Lady Thor? Cat Beast. Falcon as Captain America? Cat Beast. It'll all revert. It's because they don't actually have any passion behind it. Why did Falcon become Captain America? Oh, he and Steve Rogers had an argument and now he's wearing Captain America's uniform because reasons.

Then he got Cat Beast'd, now he's Falcon again. Steve Rogers is Captain America again. Groundhog Day, everyone! It's Groundhog Day!

Lady Thor? Lady Thor is there because... Um, er, other realities? Reasons? No one really knows, but everyone knows that it's a gimmick. It's not really intended to stick. She'll get Cat Beast'd, and ultimately replaced by Man Thor again.

I mentioned the Iron Corps, right?

This is because of how DC handled things with the Green Lantern Corps. The best example I've seen yet of HOW YOU DO THIS RIGHT.

Hal Jordan? He's being a space cowboy. John Stewart? He's leading the Green Lantern Corps. Your old favourite lantern? Heavily featured in the Green Lantern Corps. New, young, diversified lanterns? Meet Cruz and Baz!

DC does do it wrong, occasionally. I feel like what they did with Barry and Wally was just a massive clusterfuck. That Barry is still present as the League's only speedster is depressing, it's very much contrary to the Lantern Corps and it feels a little Marvel-y, to be honest. It's all about the editorial staff pushing their tastes.

So DC isn't perfect. No. Are they doing almost everything better, regardless? Heck yes! Do you care about social issues? Check out Green Arrow, Batgirl & the Bird of Prey. Do you want diverse characters? Cyborg, Blue Beetle, New Super-Man and many others have you covered. Do you long for nuanced stories that cover a character's life outside of being a hero? Superman has you covered. Do you want old-fashioned superhero comics? Action Comics, Justice League, and Detective Comics have your back.

DC is inclusive. And... AND AND AND... DC never, ever Groundhog Days. If DC does something? Then it sticks. This is why I respect them so god damned much. Even if it's begrudgingly, sometimes. You know? They deserve it, they really do.

The New 52 was a failure, they knew that. So, what's to be done about that? Reboot it and just forget it ever happened? No! Do something really clever and make all continuity matter, forever! That's what DC had done up until the New 52, so it's not that unexpected, but it is refreshing.

They could've been cowardly and just set the clock back to a pre-52 state. They did actually have some pieces in place for that (Waverider, Pandora, et al). Instead, they did something much, much more compelling. They made it all matter. So any new characters they'd introduced and fleshed out? They got to stay, along with the old stable!

And that's why DC will always be better than Marvel. I mean, you know, along with the fact that I don't think that DC has featured nearly as much snuff porn and women getting kicked in the vagina as Marvel has given us (thanks, Bendis). So that's also a feather in DC's cap.

Plus, when a woman is empowered in DC comics, it doesn't just feel like a silly, colourful, 'this is my l'il Universe which is separate from everything else' gimmick (looking at you, Squirrel Girl, sorry). They really are there, in the prime reality, and working to make a difference.

Batgirl & the Birds of Prey is better than just about anything that Marvel has done in its long history. So we're back to being inclusive, can I talk about that some more? Young readers? You've got young, experimental comics with the Young Animal and Wildstorm imprints. Gay audience? You're covered, too! Especially notable, here? Apollo & Midnighter.

When DC does it, it feels authentic, real, and genuine. They put a lot of heart into the story, to set things up. It's a long, drawn out process of handing over the mantle or switching focus. Sure, they screw up occasionally but for the most part they get that right.

It's not BOOP DIVERSITY GIMMICK, which is very much Marvel's schtick. It's why no one is satisfied with Marvel, not even an old, haggard "SJW" like me. I see Marvel's insensitive, tacky gimmicks for what they really are.

If Marvel cared to understand how to do this even remotely right? Apollo & Midnighter, Batgirl & the Birds of Prey, Shade the Changing Girl, New Super-Man, and... Doctor Endless.

Oh. My. God. Doctor Endless. Here's why I'm inspired to write this. It's not just a tacky BOOP DIVERSITY GIMMICK thing, it's not a magical one issue replacement of an existing character. They put in the effort to create new characters that people would care about, it shows DC cares.

Marvel, by comparison, feels like a soulless corporate machine. They're doing diversity not because it's ethical, or inclusive, or it makes people feel good, but rather because they think they're widening the net to sell more of their hugely overpriced comics.

If you replace five existing characters with LGBTQ versions BECAUSE REASONS (without any actual reasons) in a one issue span? It's meaningless. It’s insulting. It doesn't carry any weight or gravitas. It's hard for people to get behind that as their new hero because it all just happened so suddenly that it feels like a trick, they're feeling like Marvel will tug the rug out from under them the moment those characters lose popularity. They'll be gone as suddenly as they appeared.

Inauthenticity, a lack of genuineness, and just an air of being con men. Along with an inability to ever change, evolve, or grow. This is what I think of Marvel as being, now. Like I said, they had some really obvious chances with X-Men and Iron Man to grow. They could've launched off of Matt Fraction's stories to set up an Iron Man Corps, it would've been glorious. They could've had a number of Iron heroes, each with their own fleshed out story which is separate from Stark's own. No tackiness or gimmicks needed.

And you know Marvel is going to just Cat Beast every diverse character. Give it a couple of years and no one will ever remember any of these people they invented over a one issue span, no one will remember that Falcon was Captain America because it happened and it was gone again so quickly that it was forgettable.

It's Groundhog Day, everyone! A really gimmicky, shady Groundhog Day!

There are actually a lot of characters like that throughout Marvel's history, who've either been forgotten or have lost most of their development due to Marvel's love of the reset button. DC only flirted with the reset button once and it almost doomed them. They learned from that.

So now that Doctor Endless is here, they're now here to stay. They're always going to be in the DC Universe. Everything is. Grant fucking Morrison is in the DC Universe as The Writer or somesuch. Yankee goddamn Poodle and Captain Carrot are still present. I LOVE IT.

With Rebirth, DC has made a stand. They're not going to use the reset button to fix the time they -- thanks to some poor judgement -- flirted with the reset button. They're leaving that thing well, well alone.

So while Squirrel Girl enjoys a short stint of popularity as one of Marvel's gimmicks (and this kills me because I adore Ryan North and love his writing), off in her own Universe? Black Canary exists in the Green Arrow, Birds of Prey, and Justice League of America books being generally just the most kick-ass woman ever.

I used to be such a Marvel fan, it's funny. It's just that I began to notice their over-reliance on that bloody reset button back in the '80s. It got boring by the '90s and I was fed up of it. Morrison's X-Men and Fraction's Iron Man gave me some, infinitesimal glimmer of hope, but...

I watched DC continue to grow, grow, and grow. I mean, I'd always had some love for DC thanks to the DCAU and the Justice League, but I was iffy about the comics because they took away one of my favourite characters as a gimmicky stunt (and that felt like a very Marvel thing to do). With Rebirth? I couldn't stand it any more.

I can forgive DC for its one, flawed, gimmicky stunt. The horrible, egregious error that was the New 52. I forgive you, DC. It's okay. It really is okay. You've done everything to make up for it.

However, Marvel is doing reboot after gimmicky reboot all the time. GROUNDHOG DAY, EVERYONE! All of those new first issues, and nothing ever, ever changes. It's just a new issue one to tell exactly the same stories, just with a shiny, new gimmick! And when diversity and social issues are their shiny, new gimmick? I feel especially dirty.

DC is as authentic as Marvel is just a soulless, corporate beast who's only in it for the money. Yeah, sure, DC is a company, too. Owned by Warner Bros and definitely also in it for that money, but it feels different. You can tell by reading the comics, it really feels genuine.

If DC has a book featuring women? It'll often be written (and sometimes drawn) by women. If DC has a comic book featuring minorities? It'll often be written (and sometimes drawn) by those same minorities. This is really obvious with New Super-Man, Batgirl & the Birds of Prey, and so, so, so many others. It really shows.

And there are just too many honest-to-god genuine things going on at DC -- for those who pay attention -- for me to think it's all just a bunch of clever ploys to draw in the money. There's too much effort. If you're just doing it for the money, you do it like Marvel, and you'll succeed all the more. Marvel is simply better at making money than DC comics has ever been.

Sorry, DC.

But DC comics puts out some damn good comics. And they're trying. It's not gimmicks, they are trying and I can tell. I love them for trying.

You need only look at Doctor Endless to fully understand why DC are trying, whereas Marvel is just taking the piss (and your money).

It genuinely reminds me of the Nostalgiasaurus Parx thing I was talking about, recently. Where it turns out that the tyrannosaur had feathers and scales, it wasn't merely scaly as has been incorrectly reported so frequently of late. When people heard it really might've been a Nostalgiasaurus Parx, though, instead of a Tyrannosaurus Rex? Well, it was like their football team had won, or something. Fireworks, celebrations, people crying in the streets, riots. Crazy shit.

I guess that some of us want to preserve the status quo no matter what, right? Some just want to uphold that, keep it steady, no matter how much jury-rigging they have to do, no matter how much Don Quixote-esque self-delusionary nonsense they have to engage in just to keep the world as this overly simple construct that they already knew everything about.

Others? Well... I imagine that this is a scale, where it kind of slides and it has extremes. But on the other end of this sliding scale? I imagine that people will become more open-minded, they'll actually want a constant evolution of change borne out of an ever growing understanding. They can accept that the world is changing around them. There are likely traits and quirks that get swapped between and around to dictate where on this scale a person sits, but that's how ultimately it seems to be.

It also, quite interestingly, ties back into the toxic ideals of perfection that some people have and how problematic they are. And the importance of valuing being humble and understanding diversity instead of just upholding the status quo as some kind of holy default state that must never, ever be questioned.

Marvel kind of does the status quo thing. Yeah, they have gimmicks, and tomorrow it'll be a new gimmick, but they're doing the same kinds of stories they always have. Miles Morales comes along and could serve as the Spidey on the Streets role that people enjoy, allowing Peter to slip into the background as an older person and enjoy a family life, perhaps even take on a team leadership role. Growth, yo! But, no... Peter's still a small-time bank robbery solvin' sort of guy. Which makes Miles Morales utterly redundant, since that's what they brought him in to do.

So Morales was a gimmick. Peter being a teacher, then Peter being a CEO? Gimmicks. Nothing will stick. Ultimately, Peter's always going to be dealing with gang bangers and hoods. He's always going to be stuck at that frozen point in history, never to evolve, grow, or change. And that's Marvel.

Which is... why I prefer DC, and that's that, I guess?

[templarhalo]

If Superman and Batman merged together into one person, how different would this man be if he has a mixture of Superman and Batman's memories, fighting skills, emotions, etc and can't change back...ever? Note: This scenario could take place on any DC universe.

@frostbite883

An interesting question! While I am not super well versed in DC lore the way I am Marvel, or Game of Thrones I am an avid fan of the DC cinematic universe so I will use their takes on the Batman and Superman.

This is going to get a bit rambly

I for one am one actually like Ben Afflecks take on Batman. This is batman isn't stuck in his later 20s or mid to late 30s. He's clearly been around the block and is in his early to mid 40s. He's not the old man resigned to a mentor role, nore is he an old man compensating with tech for "one final misson" Though as he comments to Diana "I can barely do this now" This is a Batman struggling to adopt to metahumans. He's a batman whose been through some shit, with one Robin dying under his watch and of course like all batmen suffered through the death of his parents at the hands of a criminal with a gun.

This is a batman who makes some mistakes. He's a batman who he fucks up, he's aware he fucks up but that doesn't mean he's not going to call other people on fucking up. His relationship with Clark begins as antagonistic, obsessive hatred, believing the worst in Superman due the personal loss of employees and friends due to the collateral damage that occurred in Man of Steel.

But this Batman also deeply admires Clark after BvS andhis actions in Justice League are largely to atone for his mistakes. After the Climax of Justice League he emerges emotionally healthy resigning himself to sharing the team mom role with Diana.

As for Clark, well I highly recommend watching the scene in Kill Bill Voplime 2 where the eponymous Bill talks with Uma Thurman's character about Superman as well as how Superman being created by two Jewish men is a core part of his character.

Anyway like all Supermen he must struggle with being the Last Son of Krypton, appearing human living among humans raised by humans, loving a human woman but not being human. (Fortunately he is not burdened by warring with his incestuous urges to sleep with his cousin Supergirl nor does toes the DC films want to tackle the implications of Clark being able to impregnate Lois Lane.)

While I could elaborate on Clarkes trauma conga line since finding out he was not normal since adolence and how him being kind of angsty throughout BvS makes some sense considering he had to destroy the last remnant and hope of his birth world and people being able to be restorted outside of aformentioned cousin incest and forced to kill a man who in a happier time might have been his Uncle/Godfather, in man of steel imma get to meats and potatoes of your question.

(Thank God! You're probably thanking)

Anyway a rather large number of fictional protagonists, from the semi historical Paladin Roland to Iron Man to Aragorn and House Stark(and anti heroes like Rocharch from Watchmen and The Punisher fight evil or a good people because of something called Noblesse oblige.

This basically means because you have superpowers or come from a distinguished thousand year bloodline or are rich white guy, you are obliged to be a good person and be responsible. You don't invoke prima noctea on your peasants. You don't bribe the judge to avoid paying that speeding ticket. You don't strangle that fucking hobbit for mentioning second breakfast.

Both Batman and Clark feel obligated to be superheroes because of this.

(Fufilling emotional and psychological needs, coping with trauma aside)

Now a fusion of Batman and Superman would still be motivated in such a way. This theoretical hybrid would be quite frankly fucking terrifying combing the skills and tech of a veteran crime fighter and detective with the skills of an investigative reporter and good old Kansas farm boy in the body of an alien species even more overpowered than the Saiyans of Dragon Ball

They'd also be possibly insane. Scratch that if this superbats was like Gogeta from Dragon Ball Z aware that he is two separate individuals but unable to go back to being two people. Well itd be a miracle if the this superbats is psychologically fit for crime fighting let alone a normal idyllic life.

There's also the difference in upbringing, moral code and approach to everything from how to raise children.... to well everything.

Batman refuses to kill and does not like guns. Superman when pressed will kill. Superman is a hopebringer, basking in light and adulation. Batman dresses like a bat and brands people with a bat brand because his shtick is scaring the shit out of people. There's also the legal question of who this person is for the purpose of say taxes....

Simply put this bat/superman hybrid would be an terrifyingly effective crime fighter lover and father.

If they can overcome the potentially numerous mental health issues that will arise of their origin being fused from two traumatized individuals with different philosophical takes on the world, who come from widely different backgrounds and both pay wildly different amounts in state and Federal Taxes.

Anyway hopes this helps and thank you for the ask!

#frostbite833

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Wonder Woman review

The DC movie universe has always garnered mixed reactions from audiences, and I am absolutely no exception. Man of Steel I thought was an okay movie; Batman v Superman I think had a lot good about it, but also a lot of really stupid stuff, namely Jesse Eisenberg and the constant unrelenting dialogue; and Suicide Squad, a film that I love, I cannot deny was anything other than a hot, trashy mess. And seriously, this whole time, I got this feeling that DC was just trying to ape on the Marvel style with its big crossover shared universe stuff, which it jumped into before establishing things better. And that got me thinking: Why do they want to be Marvel so bad? Can’t they just… be DC?

With Wonder Woman, DC has decided to be DC. In fact, they have decided to go back to their roots, a and emulate the father of modern superhero cinema: Superman, the Christopher Reeves film. Patty Jenkins and Zach Snyder managed to pull off an incredible feat here; they put old-timey themes and sensibilities together with modern styles and create not just the greatest film DC has pumped out since The Dark Knight, but easily one of the best and most refreshing superhero films ever.

Before I get into why that is, let’s take a look at the story: Diana is the princess of Themyscira, the island of the legendary Amazon warriors. There’s something special about her, but it seems her mother, the queen, is sheltering her from her destiny… and then Steve Trevor crashes in and opens Diana’s eyes. There’s a war going on in the outside world, and she believes it is her duty to go out there and slay Ares, the god of war who in ancient times apparently poisoned humanity into fighting and violence. So Diana grabs the god-killing sword, the shield, the lasso, and heads out with Trevor to London, where the assemble a ragtag group of multicultural misfits to go into Belgium and stop the war once and for all. Can Wonder Woman save the day, or is Earth doomed to an eternal war?

This movie does everything DC has done wrong with its past few films RIGHT. Well, mostly. We’ll get into what it does wrong, but let’s enjoy the greatness of having a main character who has great emotional range! Diana has such a childlike joy in the modern world, such a refreshing innocence; even her quest to hunt down Ares has an almost childlike air to it, but it’s not grating or annoying, it’s all rather charming. Diana is such a fantastic protagonist, and a kickass hero to boot; she fucking kicks so much ass, it’s unreal. From her unflinching walk through No Man’s Land to her leaping through an occupied town and beating the shit out of the Germans while her badass theme music kicks in with an epic guitar riff, Diana easily establishes herself as the best DCEU protagonist yet.

And her supporting cast is great! The best are Steve Trevor and his squad of ragtag misfits, Sameer the former actor, Charlie the gunman who seems to suffer from PTSD, and The Chief, a Native American who plays both sides of the war as a smuggler. They all get established well, they all have likable personalities, and they’re all great support for Diana. They’re clearly there to emulate the Howling Commandos, but honestly, if you’re gonna try and copy Marvel, this is the best way to do it. Steve especially is great; Chris Pine’s performance truly redeemed a character who had been judged as useless for years by comic fans by giving Trevor a surprising amount of humor, nobility, and emotion.  The rest of the characters like Etta Candy and the other Aamzons are also well done and enjoyable in their own rights; it’s clear to see that they actually took time to make us give a shit about all the people involved.

Ah, but while we’re on the subject of characters, let’s talk about the villains, one of the most important parts of any superhero movie. Ludendorff and Dr. Poison serve as the antagonists for over two thirds of the film, and the latter especially is incredibly enjoyable. The two have an excellent scene where they giggle over watching a bunch of die to her poisonous gas, giving a level of enjoyment and depth not seen in the villains. The big issue is that, while Ludendorff certainly gets quite a bit of time and a solid final fight, and while Poison is cool and creepy whenever she show up, Poison is just overshadowed and is a bit underutilized. Ludendorff has the lesser issue of just being a warm-up for the true final boss of the film, but Dr. Poison really gets the short end of the stick despite being the coolest villain in the film.

And now we enter into SPOILERS, so look away if you want to avoid them… though this is barely spoilers at all. Ares is the true big bad of the film, and in the absolute cheesiest move possible, he is portrayed by… David Thewlis. With a big honking mustache. You heard that right, Remus fucking Lupin is the main villain of this story, and he acts like almost every Disney villain of recent years: he is completely hidden as the antagonist until the big finale. You get a solid ten minutes or so of Lupin floating about and tossing debris around as he fights Diana, as well as shooting lightning, and then he finally suits up in armor. At this point, he becomes a lot more menacing, as David Thewlis is an excellent actor and his voice definitely rings with menace… and then he gets the helmet knocked off and we get to watch as Diana does a crucified hero shot (Snyder sure does love those, huh?) and zap him through the chest with lightning. This whole final battle had me in fits of gleeful giggles; on the one hand, there is no denying this is still pretty badass, as it’s Wonder Woman vs. Ares. But on the other hand, you are watching Remus Lupin float about and reverse Accio-ing debris at Diana’s face. Even goofier, he had his big ol’ mustache even in a flashback to ancient times; I guess some facial hair is just eternal. As absolutely dopey as this all is, it… kind of works, mostly. Sure, the final battle has an overabundance of CGI and it’s incredibly silly, but here’s the thing:

I can forgive it because this movie has the heart and charm of Superman.

That movie is no less a classic despite Hackman’s clownish Lex Luthor and Superman’s time travel spin around the globe and the hamfisted Space Jesus symbolism, and here’s why: that film resonates with themes of hope, justice, and the idea that a God can be made more human by their experiences. And so we have that here: despite the final corny fight filled with CGI and floating Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers and underutilized antagonists, this film resonates with a hopeful and heroic tone. Diana has her innocence that we’ve come to love crushed over the course of the film, and has to come to terms with the fact there is no singular evil that causes all the bad in the world; humans sometimes do it all themselves. But even after realizing this, she realizes there are so much more to humans than that. In her own words: "I believe in love. Only love will truly save the world." This is the single corniest and yet most beautiful line in the film, because it encapsulates everything this movie is about. This is what DC should be, this is what DC truly is; DC isn’t constant darkness, grittiness, and misery. DC is triumphant, uplifting, it tells stories of those who have seen the worst humanity has to offer and yet selflessly give themselves to save the lives of mortals… this movie, unlike the DC films before it, has hope. This movie is triumphant, hopeful, and while unsubtle in its messages, delivers them with the weight necessary to drive home that yes, the messages are important.

Look, the film has problems. I can agree the final third isn’t as good as the first two thirds of the film, I can agree that the final battle could have been pulled off better, and I can agree that there were a couple of things here and there that weren’t great. But fuck it, this movie’s flaws are overshadowed in my eyes by all the stuff it does right. It has the triumphant feel of an old-school DC comic with some of the sensibilities of the modern action-packed DC cinematic universe. If this film is any indication of the quality to come, I’d say the DCEU is safe. I really can’t recommend this enough. This film is groundbreaking, especially in regards to female superhero movies, which have had a history of sucking.

Wonder Woman was always a hero people feared wouldn’t be done justice; what we were given was leagues ahead of anyone’s expectations. It’s definitely not the greatest superhero film ever made… but I think it’s way up there. I didn’t think they made them like this anymore, but boy am I glad I was proven wrong.

[richmeganews]

Shazam! is an unapologetically buoyant triumph of a superhero movie

Shazam’s hilariously charming, disarming spirit is its superpower.

Shazam has arguably the goofiest plot device in the long history of goofy superhero plot devices: In order to tap into his superpowers and transform into his superhero self, Billy Batson (played by Asher Angel in this movie), a 14-year-old runaway teen, must shout “Shazam!” into the ether and get throttled with a bolt of lightning.

Saying that magic word grants him the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, the speed of Mercury (SHAZAM!), and a body some 15 years older and at its physical peak (a very muscular and padded Zachary Levi, in this case).

This trick works in a 30-page comic book, thanks to the brief length and silence of the medium. But a kid yelling “Shazam!” multiple times over a two-hour movie is a different story, one that risks rubbing the novelty thin from overuse.

And so it’s one of live-action Shazam’s most impressive magic tricks that each time “Shazam!” is yelled — in a crowded mall, in a wizard’s looming lair, at a carnival, in a bedroom — it’s a welcome sound, even the 16th time.

When Bill says the magic word, the sky opens its jagged jaws. Thunder groans. And when that white-hot bolt makes impact, toddler-faced Billy turns into the buff, super-speedy, lightning-wielding superhero known as Shazam.

The razzle-dazzle transformation captures Shazam’s spirit in a nutshell: The most forgotten and seemingly powerless people can change the world.

Like many of its fellow Warner Bros. Entertainment and DC Comics superhero movies, Shazam is an origin story. Even though Batman and Superman exist in this universe and are referenced multiple times, Billy needs to be a hero in order to save the world from a supervillain menace, starting with Philadelphia. But Shazam has less in common with the grim, grisly world of Batman v Superman and the indulgent marine opera Aquaman, sharing more with the likes of Harry Potter and a certain teenage superhero from a rival comic book company.

In order to save the world, Billy needs to learn to care about the world — an especially tough ask for a boy whom the world has never cared for.

It’s Shazam’s fidelity to childhood joy, tenderness in exploring feelings about family and parenthood, and loyalty to its seemingly silly source material that make it soar. Slightly surprising is that this winsome flick comes from director David F. Sandberg, who’s more well-known for menacing horror flicks, like Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation, that make you afraid to check under your bed.

Sandberg has found success in Shazam by shrugging off typically cumbersome grimness and ignoring a need to fuse together with other films for a future team-up epic — all that stuff that weighs down most superhero movies. Instead, for large parts of the movie, Shazam unfurls like a holiday movie spin on the genre. And in embracing earnest glee and heartfelt tenderness, Shazam allows us to fully appreciate the magical excitement and wonder that superheroes can supply.

Shazam is self-aware, but not self-conscious about the playfulness of magic

Steve Wilkie/ DC Comics

Asher Angel as Billy Batson and Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddy Freeman in New Line Cinema’s action adventure Shazam, a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

The boy wonder of this superhero charm offensive is one Billy Batson, who was separated from his mother at a carnival years ago and never found her again. Billy is now a street-smart, mildly delinquent teen, roving around the neighborhoods of Philadelphia to find her again.

While Billy is on the hunt for his mom, an aging wizard named Shazam (Djimon Hounsou) is looking for someone worthy and pure of heart to carry on the good fight against the demon forms of the seven deadly sins. And the wizard and his powers are desired by one Doctor Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong), a man who was rejected by the wizard when he was just a boy named Thad.

Thad wants the wizard, the wizard wants a true successor (who may or may not be Billy), and Billy wants to find his mom, who — we don’t know if she even wants to be found.

Because this is a movie about Billy and not any of the other kids who are pure of heart, it’s clear that Billy is Shazam’s chosen one, destined to inherit all of Shazam’s power and responsibility to keep the evils of the world at bay. We don’t know if Sivana knows that part of Shazam’s power transforms Billy into a ripped Levi, but he knows that he wants whatever it is the wizard has. Suffice it to say, this complicates matters for Billy’s latest foster family, Billy’s very important search for his mother, and Doctor Sivana’s nefarious plans.

To be clear, this is lofty, fantastical, and silly mythological stuff. The original Shazam comics were doused in camp and whimsical adventures, so that’s no surprise here. But the movie commits to its source material, instead of shying away from it.

Billy’s transformation into Shazam (and thus Angel’s transformation into Levi) is the movie’s central and hypervisual gag: a boy walking around in the body of a superpowered man. Shazam has the unmitigated power of Zeus himself but maintains the spirit of a kid. It’s a riff on the body-swapping we know from Freaky Friday or Big. Sandberg ably uses the premise to imbue the movie with humor, as Billy can use his newfound ability to buy beer for the first time or skip school — or, as any teen would with the gift of superpowers, turn his superpowered alter ego into an influencer on YouTube and Instagram.

Lightning bolts are awesome, but so are fame and followers.

The optical illusion allows Levi to be tall, dark, and awkward, instead of, say, a ripoff of Chris Evans’s dashing and swoon-worthy Captain America. The goofiness grounds the hero in comedy. Superhuman feats, like being faster than a speeding bullet and more powerful than a locomotive, are cartoonish without the proper training, and Levi is more than game to lend himself to the physical humor of being shot in the face for the sake of giggles.

Shazam’s magic is all in the family

Like any good secret, Billy can’t tell his foster parents about his new power and can only confide in his circle of friends. That circle begins and ends with Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer), Billy’s best friend and foster brother, one part of a bigger foster family, along with the extremely adorable little sister, Darla (Faithe Herman), that tries to welcome Billy into their home — a rather difficult feat, considering Billy has run away from every foster home he’s been assigned to in the past. Being a fan of Superman and Batman (for some reason, Wonder Woman is not fully acknowledged in this universe), Freddy is amped about his best friend’s powers, and begins a battery of tests — fire resistance, teleportation, and super strength, to name a few — to determine what kind of powers Billy has as Shazam’s heir.

Some tests work better than others. Each moment is absolutely joyous.

These scenes ensure that Freddy walks off with the entire movie. Freddy is one of the best arguments for Billy to stop running away, since he knows what Billy’s going through — well, before he gets the wizard powers — and a thing or two about feeling unloved. He’s the closest thing to a friend Billy has had in a while.

Screenwriter Henry Gayden gives Grazer the movie’s funniest lines, knowing that humor and comedy are ways to approach sensitive ideas, like children talking about feeling unwanted after being abandoned by their parents, or what it’s like to live with a disability. Grazer shows glimmers of vulnerability — sometimes it’s just a small slowdown in delivery or a tense lip — beneath his character’s scrim of sarcasm and irreverence.

The movie’s best parts are when it reminds you that Billy and the people all around him are children.

Less fun, but more powerful, is when you realize that 14-year-olds still haven’t learned responsibility. Shazam and Sandberg don’t forget that kids can have their rotten moments, and that their feelings aren’t any less valid because they are kids. Shazam allows its hero to be selfish and impulsive and jealous. Billy figures that, especially since Superman and Batman exist, someone else can deal with saving the world (again: Philadelphia). Who knew (besides anyone who witnessed Star-Lord’s temper tantrum in Infinity War) making a point of responsibility is ultimately more effective when you have a grown human acting like a child?

Shazam seems like proof that Warner Bros. has found its groove

Steve Wilkie/ DC Comics

Mark Strong as Dr. Thaddeus Sivana and Zachary Levi as Shazam.

Much has been made of Warner Bros.’ difficult foray into superhero smashers post-Christopher Nolan. The studio can make movies that can make a lot of money, but it hasn’t found consistent footing when it comes to critical praise.

The 2013 Man of Steel was met with mixed reviews. The best thing about 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman, released in 2017, was a history-making success, followed by the cinematic meh that was Justice League. Then, at the end of last year, Aquaman’s overstuffed epic surprised and dazzled audiences.

Shazam’s tale of orphans and wizardry is not perfect — Sivana is a stylish but ultimately forgettable menace — but it’s pretty close.

It’s not that the movie’s buoyancy alone makes it so stellar; fun doesn’t always outweigh grimness. Nolan’s The Dark Knight is grisly, powerful, and the pinnacle of superhero storytelling. This is instead a matter of execution, and Shazam’s hilarious script and unflinching commitment to the earnestness of its comic book source material work in tandem to deliver the joyous high notes it’s going for. Had it been deficient in either, the experience wouldn’t have been as charming or entertaining, or as touching.

Superheroes, at their best, have an uncanny ability to deliver lessons about life in ways that teachers, parents, mentors, or religion can’t. Sometimes that’s about great power and responsibility (Spider-Man), hope (Superman and Wonder Woman), or discrimination (the X-Men). At its heart, Shazam is about who we call family and how family reflects who we are.

In Shazam’s case, it’s very literal for Billy, who doesn’t have an attachment to the foster families he’s running from. But even for those of us who aren’t street-smart foster kids, and who have lived lives full of love and support, there’s a very human yearning and hope that we’ll find more people like us. That humanity is what Shazam is fluent in. And if we’re lucky, Shazam assures us, we can share a little bit of that magic, our magic, with others.

Shazam is in theaters on April 5, 2019.

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from WordPress http://www.richmeganews.com/shazam-is-an-unapologetically-buoyant-triumph-of-a-superhero-movie/

[richmegavideo]

Shazam! is an unapologetically buoyant triumph of a superhero movie

Shazam’s hilariously charming, disarming spirit is its superpower.

Shazam has arguably the goofiest plot device in the long history of goofy superhero plot devices: In order to tap into his superpowers and transform into his superhero self, Billy Batson (played by Asher Angel in this movie), a 14-year-old runaway teen, must shout “Shazam!” into the ether and get throttled with a bolt of lightning.

Saying that magic word grants him the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, the speed of Mercury (SHAZAM!), and a body some 15 years older and at its physical peak (a very muscular and padded Zachary Levi, in this case).

This trick works in a 30-page comic book, thanks to the brief length and silence of the medium. But a kid yelling “Shazam!” multiple times over a two-hour movie is a different story, one that risks rubbing the novelty thin from overuse.

And so it’s one of live-action Shazam’s most impressive magic tricks that each time “Shazam!” is yelled — in a crowded mall, in a wizard’s looming lair, at a carnival, in a bedroom — it’s a welcome sound, even the 16th time.

When Bill says the magic word, the sky opens its jagged jaws. Thunder groans. And when that white-hot bolt makes impact, toddler-faced Billy turns into the buff, super-speedy, lightning-wielding superhero known as Shazam.

The razzle-dazzle transformation captures Shazam’s spirit in a nutshell: The most forgotten and seemingly powerless people can change the world.

Like many of its fellow Warner Bros. Entertainment and DC Comics superhero movies, Shazam is an origin story. Even though Batman and Superman exist in this universe and are referenced multiple times, Billy needs to be a hero in order to save the world from a supervillain menace, starting with Philadelphia. But Shazam has less in common with the grim, grisly world of Batman v Superman and the indulgent marine opera Aquaman, sharing more with the likes of Harry Potter and a certain teenage superhero from a rival comic book company.

In order to save the world, Billy needs to learn to care about the world — an especially tough ask for a boy whom the world has never cared for.

It’s Shazam’s fidelity to childhood joy, tenderness in exploring feelings about family and parenthood, and loyalty to its seemingly silly source material that make it soar. Slightly surprising is that this winsome flick comes from director David F. Sandberg, who’s more well-known for menacing horror flicks, like Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation, that make you afraid to check under your bed.

Sandberg has found success in Shazam by shrugging off typically cumbersome grimness and ignoring a need to fuse together with other films for a future team-up epic — all that stuff that weighs down most superhero movies. Instead, for large parts of the movie, Shazam unfurls like a holiday movie spin on the genre. And in embracing earnest glee and heartfelt tenderness, Shazam allows us to fully appreciate the magical excitement and wonder that superheroes can supply.

Shazam is self-aware, but not self-conscious about the playfulness of magic

Steve Wilkie/ DC Comics

Asher Angel as Billy Batson and Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddy Freeman in New Line Cinema’s action adventure Shazam, a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

The boy wonder of this superhero charm offensive is one Billy Batson, who was separated from his mother at a carnival years ago and never found her again. Billy is now a street-smart, mildly delinquent teen, roving around the neighborhoods of Philadelphia to find her again.

While Billy is on the hunt for his mom, an aging wizard named Shazam (Djimon Hounsou) is looking for someone worthy and pure of heart to carry on the good fight against the demon forms of the seven deadly sins. And the wizard and his powers are desired by one Doctor Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong), a man who was rejected by the wizard when he was just a boy named Thad.

Thad wants the wizard, the wizard wants a true successor (who may or may not be Billy), and Billy wants to find his mom, who — we don’t know if she even wants to be found.

Because this is a movie about Billy and not any of the other kids who are pure of heart, it’s clear that Billy is Shazam’s chosen one, destined to inherit all of Shazam’s power and responsibility to keep the evils of the world at bay. We don’t know if Sivana knows that part of Shazam’s power transforms Billy into a ripped Levi, but he knows that he wants whatever it is the wizard has. Suffice it to say, this complicates matters for Billy’s latest foster family, Billy’s very important search for his mother, and Doctor Sivana’s nefarious plans.

To be clear, this is lofty, fantastical, and silly mythological stuff. The original Shazam comics were doused in camp and whimsical adventures, so that’s no surprise here. But the movie commits to its source material, instead of shying away from it.

Billy’s transformation into Shazam (and thus Angel’s transformation into Levi) is the movie’s central and hypervisual gag: a boy walking around in the body of a superpowered man. Shazam has the unmitigated power of Zeus himself but maintains the spirit of a kid. It’s a riff on the body-swapping we know from Freaky Friday or Big. Sandberg ably uses the premise to imbue the movie with humor, as Billy can use his newfound ability to buy beer for the first time or skip school — or, as any teen would with the gift of superpowers, turn his superpowered alter ego into an influencer on YouTube and Instagram.

Lightning bolts are awesome, but so are fame and followers.

The optical illusion allows Levi to be tall, dark, and awkward, instead of, say, a ripoff of Chris Evans’s dashing and swoon-worthy Captain America. The goofiness grounds the hero in comedy. Superhuman feats, like being faster than a speeding bullet and more powerful than a locomotive, are cartoonish without the proper training, and Levi is more than game to lend himself to the physical humor of being shot in the face for the sake of giggles.

Shazam’s magic is all in the family

Like any good secret, Billy can’t tell his foster parents about his new power and can only confide in his circle of friends. That circle begins and ends with Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer), Billy’s best friend and foster brother, one part of a bigger foster family, along with the extremely adorable little sister, Darla (Faithe Herman), that tries to welcome Billy into their home — a rather difficult feat, considering Billy has run away from every foster home he’s been assigned to in the past. Being a fan of Superman and Batman (for some reason, Wonder Woman is not fully acknowledged in this universe), Freddy is amped about his best friend’s powers, and begins a battery of tests — fire resistance, teleportation, and super strength, to name a few — to determine what kind of powers Billy has as Shazam’s heir.

Some tests work better than others. Each moment is absolutely joyous.

These scenes ensure that Freddy walks off with the entire movie. Freddy is one of the best arguments for Billy to stop running away, since he knows what Billy’s going through — well, before he gets the wizard powers — and a thing or two about feeling unloved. He’s the closest thing to a friend Billy has had in a while.

Screenwriter Henry Gayden gives Grazer the movie’s funniest lines, knowing that humor and comedy are ways to approach sensitive ideas, like children talking about feeling unwanted after being abandoned by their parents, or what it’s like to live with a disability. Grazer shows glimmers of vulnerability — sometimes it’s just a small slowdown in delivery or a tense lip — beneath his character’s scrim of sarcasm and irreverence.

The movie’s best parts are when it reminds you that Billy and the people all around him are children.

Less fun, but more powerful, is when you realize that 14-year-olds still haven’t learned responsibility. Shazam and Sandberg don’t forget that kids can have their rotten moments, and that their feelings aren’t any less valid because they are kids. Shazam allows its hero to be selfish and impulsive and jealous. Billy figures that, especially since Superman and Batman exist, someone else can deal with saving the world (again: Philadelphia). Who knew (besides anyone who witnessed Star-Lord’s temper tantrum in Infinity War) making a point of responsibility is ultimately more effective when you have a grown human acting like a child?

Shazam seems like proof that Warner Bros. has found its groove

Steve Wilkie/ DC Comics

Mark Strong as Dr. Thaddeus Sivana and Zachary Levi as Shazam.

Much has been made of Warner Bros.’ difficult foray into superhero smashers post-Christopher Nolan. The studio can make movies that can make a lot of money, but it hasn’t found consistent footing when it comes to critical praise.

The 2013 Man of Steel was met with mixed reviews. The best thing about 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman, released in 2017, was a history-making success, followed by the cinematic meh that was Justice League. Then, at the end of last year, Aquaman’s overstuffed epic surprised and dazzled audiences.

Shazam’s tale of orphans and wizardry is not perfect — Sivana is a stylish but ultimately forgettable menace — but it’s pretty close.

It’s not that the movie’s buoyancy alone makes it so stellar; fun doesn’t always outweigh grimness. Nolan’s The Dark Knight is grisly, powerful, and the pinnacle of superhero storytelling. This is instead a matter of execution, and Shazam’s hilarious script and unflinching commitment to the earnestness of its comic book source material work in tandem to deliver the joyous high notes it’s going for. Had it been deficient in either, the experience wouldn’t have been as charming or entertaining, or as touching.

Superheroes, at their best, have an uncanny ability to deliver lessons about life in ways that teachers, parents, mentors, or religion can’t. Sometimes that’s about great power and responsibility (Spider-Man), hope (Superman and Wonder Woman), or discrimination (the X-Men). At its heart, Shazam is about who we call family and how family reflects who we are.

In Shazam’s case, it’s very literal for Billy, who doesn’t have an attachment to the foster families he’s running from. But even for those of us who aren’t street-smart foster kids, and who have lived lives full of love and support, there’s a very human yearning and hope that we’ll find more people like us. That humanity is what Shazam is fluent in. And if we’re lucky, Shazam assures us, we can share a little bit of that magic, our magic, with others.

Shazam is in theaters on April 5, 2019.

The post Shazam! is an unapologetically buoyant triumph of a superhero movie appeared first on .

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from WordPress http://www.richmegavideo.com/shazam-is-an-unapologetically-buoyant-triumph-of-a-superhero-movie/

[rate-out-of-10]

WONDER WOMAN REVIEW

Superhero films just keep getting bigger and bigger; Marvel seems to always make a smash hit every single year, and DC seems to have been trying to catch up. With Wonder Woman, the first female-lead superhero film since 2005’s (flop) Elektra, hitting theaters this weekend, DC has gained some major ground. Director Patty Jenkins expertly crafts a believable world for Wonder Woman to dwell in and made Wonder Woman the all-around best film that the DC Cinematic Universe has put out thus far, and very well may be the most important superhero film that’s ever come out.

SPOILERS AHEAD

The character of Wonder Woman is a huge undertaking for any actress, I’d say it was even harder for Gal Gadot, someone who was relatively unknown in the States until now, to convince people she was right for the role. She’s previously done some work in the Fast & Furious movies, but once she was announced as the chosen one to play the role of the Amazonian princess, Diana, aka Wonder Woman, she was met with some criticism. But her smaller performance in Batman v Superman seemed to have raised some eyebrows, mine included, and here in her feature length debut in the role, she’s engulfed Diana in the best of ways. Gal Gadot pierces through the screen with intensity, purity, strength, and innocence. Her Wonder Woman is powerful, virtuous, noble, and forthright, she is just wonderful. She has a smile that just makes you proud. Gal almost effortlessly molds the innocence and naivety of Diana in the world of man with her confidence and independence. Other than herself, Gal had some prominent back up in the film as well, specifically Chris Pine in the role of Diana’s human love, Steve Trevor. I can’t think of a movie where Chris Pine wasn’t good. He has an infectious personality on screen, he’s always enjoyable to watch. His approach to Steve’s awkwardness around Diana was great; he’s continually surprised by Diana and it always confuses him how she can always do that. Chris and Gal have natural chemistry on screen, when they joke, when they fight, when they connect, through the whole film their relationship always felt genuine. Their romantic subplot wasn’t ever in your face either, it felt natural and was done so delicately and with grace, I respect it a lot. I wish I could have seen more of the Amazonians of Themyscira, but what we got was definitely enough. To see all these strong women training and fighting, moving so fluidly and gracefully was invigorating to watch. I could only imagine how a little girl felt watching these powerful women command the screen. My only complaint when it comes to the characters of the film is essentially everyone else besides the Amazonians, Diana, and Steve Trevor. They assemble a rag-tag group of guys to show Wonder Woman the different facets of humanity, however I wish they felt maybe more important, maybe a group of strong ladies would’ve taken it further. They didn’t seem to do anything of importance except just be there. They all had some nice moments individually but not enough to convince me that they’re worth watching. Next, there were three villainous figures: Ludendorff (Danny Huston), Dr. Poison (Elena Anaya), and Ares (David Thewlis). Ludendorff and Poison were the ones who commanded most of the evil appearances, however they were excessively generic. I think when you bring a movie into WWI or II, you can just use Germans as evil doers without much depth added to them. Poison had some intrigue, but we never really learn much of her, all she really spent time doing was marveling as gas clouds and being melodramatic. Then there’s Ares, and he wasn’t much at all exciting. His best moment was the reveal that he’s been around the entire time as Sir Patrick, but after that his intrigue faded away with excessive CGI and just an awkward appearance. He kept that mustache for thousands of years? Really? It might have had something to do with the casting choice that made it a bit ridiculous to see. When Ares formed his armor with the weapons and plating scattered around the airfield at the end, that was a cool moment, but David Thewlis just wasn’t Ares. A change in form or appearance might have gone a long way. Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, and the Amazonian women really steal the show for me, the rest were just bearable in a sense to keep the film moving forward.

Wonder Woman starts out incredibly strong, giving the warriors of Themyscira, and a young Diana, time to shine. The concentration on the world building of Wonder Woman was fantastic. It didn’t feel mashed up or rushed, like the other three DC films that have come out thus far. The movie paced generally well, even when the action was at a low point in favor of exposition, there were still bits to draw you in. Sure it can feel a little slow at times, I definitely wanted to see more of Wonder Woman kicking ass, but the slower bits did serve some nice character building, specifically for Diana. Gal was always great to watch whether she was clearly a fish out of water, or standing strong and noble against sexist men, or just smiling. You’re always rooting for her, but you’re also waiting for her to be enlightened. In parts, she’s very naive when it came to the conflict of Ares and mankind, and at the end when she has that realization of who humans really were, after Steve’s sacrifice, a feeling of relief and excitement washes over you. The action sequences were glorious too, Zach Snyder’s trademark slow-mo shots were all over the place, but I was happy with them because I liked watching Wonder Woman kick some serious ass. The final battle between her and Ares may have been very CGI’d and perhaps a bit underwhelming, but the showcase of Diana’s maximum power was great to watch. Beating overwhelming odds in superhero movies will never get old, perhaps that’s because superheroes were built off that premise. I also marveled at the set-pieces; Themyscira, London, the trenches, they all were wonderfully designed, Themyscira being the most colorful of all the landscapes. One thing I did want to bring up was the choice of the WWI setting. It was a bold choice to introduce Wonder Woman in this war-torn time, some people wanted to see her introduced in the modern day, and where I can see that being perhaps a bit cooler, it wouldn’t make much sense to the DC timeline for this universe. In the modern day, Superman and Batman specifically are prominent figures already, Batman already having a long history. If there wasn’t much of a record of Wonder Woman before Bruce discovered her picture and secret file, why would the modern day make sense? It serves her well to be in a time where technology wasn’t all over the place, so the only real evidence of her existence is the one photograph taken of her, that’s what makes it significant. If she emerged closer to the modern day, her ambiguity would be lost. Question that remain from this time, though, is how does she really age in this canon? Is Themyscira somehow suspended in time? How did she age there? Is ten years to an Amazonian in Themyscira, 50 years, or a hundered years, in the world of man? How did she seemingly not age through the rest of human history up until BvS? Did she not interfere in WWII? Vietnam? The Civil Rights era? There are a lot of questions about Wonder Woman and her history that come from this movie, however they don’t really pertain to this film specifically. These are just things that should maybe be fleshed out through the rest of the DC films.

After a film like this, what’s next really comes into question for the DC cinematic universe. Wonder Woman blew all the past films (Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, & Suicide Squad) out of the water. Will Justice League have a monumental payoff like this one did? Or will the rest of the DC universe be just as flat as where we left off with it prior to Wonder Woman? There are plenty of DC movies slated for the near future, but the rocky start it’s gotten off to may hurt the success of their first team-up film. Especially since DC seems to just want the team up to happen more quickly than Marvel’s. We don’t get an Aquaman, Flash, Cyborg, or even a solo-Batman film until after this first Justice League movie, set to release this November. It’s a questionable timeline to have. I would’ve appreciated their creative choices a lot more if we got the films in this order: Man of Steel, The Batman, Wonder Woman, Suicide Squad, Batman v Superman, and then Justice League. With the multitude of cameos in BvS of the other “meta-humans”, plus Batman and Wonder Woman’s solo films would have already introduced them, the team-up would have more of a payoff. But then again, Justice League isn’t out yet, these are just my feelings as of now and they could change. Wonder Woman is the shining example of what DC has needed and it captures Wonder Woman so epically that my excitement for DC has been revitalized to a good degree. My final rating for Wonder Woman is:

8.75/10. In a word: wonderful.

Wonder Woman does a plethora of things right, and when the movie is going great, it’s going great. Gal Gadot does an amazing job with the character, Patty Jenkins directs with fierce integrity and puts on a show that is tremendously impressive. Wonder Woman may be the most important superhero film to have ever come out, and it earns that praise. The flaws with supporting characterization, a decent lack of villainous intrigue, and a not-too-impressive main villain finale doesn’t take away too much from Wonder Woman herself. She’s a shining light in this grim world that DC has built up and I’m excited to see where she will lead the universe to in the future.

[spynotebook]

Age Of HeroesWith Age Of Heroes, Tom Breihan picks the most important superhero movie of every year, starting with the genre’s early big-budget moments and moving onto the multiplex-crushing monsters of today.  

“The Marvel Universe has gone nuts; we’re going to have a fricking Captain America movie if we’re not careful.” This was Zack Snyder speaking to Entertainment Weekly in 2008. Every once in a while, that quote finds itself recirculated online, evidence of Snyder’s philistine ideas about superhero movies and what a misguided idea it was for DC to recruit him to attempt to replicate the Marvel Universe’s success. (Another Snyder line from that same breath: “And Iron Man—$300 million domestic box office on a second-tier superhero!”)

It’s unfair to Snyder to use that quote out of context. If you read the whole interview, Snyder is, if anything, excited about Marvel’s success, if only because it proves that “pop culture is just, like, so ready for Watchmen,” the movie that he was promoting in that interview. (Note: Pop culture was not.) Snyder was simply showing his own surprise about how quickly and completely superhero movies had taken over, something that would only snowball in the years after that. Also, that Captain America movie was already in development when Snyder said what he said, and Snyder probably already knew that. (The whole Snyder interview is, however, a deeply entertaining and insane historical document. Dismissing the idea that Batman Begins is a dark movie, Snyder notes that Batman “doesn’t, like, get raped in prison. That could happen in my movie. If you want to talk about dark, that’s how that would go.” Eight years later, Snyder would make a Batman movie that did not feature Batman getting raped in prison.)

Here’s the thing: Even if Snyder had been dismissing the idea of a Captain America movie, he would’ve been totally right. Before there was a Captain America movie, there was no evidence that a Captain America movie would ever work, on any level. The entire idea of Captain America—a square-jawed avatar of everything great about the US of A, a guy who intentionally makes himself look like a big flag—seemed almost hopelessly hokey and anachronistic in 2008, when Snyder said what he said. There was nothing dark or gritty or sexy or intense about Captain America. He was a symbol of a time that never existed—an advocate for the greatness of a country that, at least on a geopolitical scale, has long been a globally dominant hegemon rather than a scrappy and idealistic underdog. Even Captain America, the comic book hero, wasn’t so sure about Captain America, the symbol of American pride. In a ’70s comic book storyline, Steve Rogers, disgusted after learning of governmental evil, had briefly forsaken his own identity, instead becoming a costumed adventurer named Nomad. If Captain America himself wasn’t so sure about Captain America, how could Hollywood be?

The 1990 Captain America movie had been such an outright catastrophic failure that it just barely got released. In the years after that, internal debates about America’s role in the world had only heated up. A Captain America movie could’ve gone wrong in so many different ways. It could’ve gotten caught up in post-9/11 Toby Keith jingoism. It could’ve played out as a goofy parody, a broad satire of Dudley Do-Right postwar heroism. It could’ve been another crappy, interchangeable Fantastic Four-level superhero movie, just with more shots of billowing flags. Instead, Captain America: The First Avenger turned out to be the movie that, at least from where I’m sitting, ultimately made the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe experiment work. It took some unbelievably skillful needle-threading to make it happen, but the people at Marvel managed to turn Cap, the personification of corniness, into something like a beloved cinematic icon, the soul upon which all of the MCU rests.

There was groundwork. A new Captain America movie had been in the planning stages since 1997; lawsuits and financial issues had stalled it. When the project finally got going, Marvel had done a few interesting things with the character. Ed Brubaker had built a complex and masterful noirish espionage saga around Cap in his Winter Soldier storyline, while Mark Millar’s blockbuster Civil War event had delighted in its depiction of Steve Rogers as an inspiring and charismatic leader and as someone who would defy his own government if he thought it were straying from the country’s true ideals. (In both Millar’s book and in the Civil War movie that eventually came out of it, Cap is wrongheaded and shortsighted, but that’s an argument for another day.) Captain America: The First Avenger only alludes to those comic book visions of the character, which later movies would explore more thoroughly. But if you were actually reading comics at the time, it was clear that Captain America, in the right hands, could be a layered and fascinating character.

Ultimately, the movie works because Marvel hired the right people. Director Joe Johnston was a longtime journeyman with an inconsistent record and at least a few genuinely bad movies on his résumé. (Shout-out to 2010’s The Wolfman.) But he was also a veteran special-effects guy who’d worked on Star Wars and Raiders Of The Lost Ark, which means he was comfortable with the levels of visual trickery needed to make a story like that work. And with his own 1991 movie The Rocketeer, he’d nailed exactly the kind of old-timey adventure-serial energy that a Captain America movie would need. (He even had powered-up Nazi villains.) It’s hard to imagine anyone more qualified for the job.

It’s also hard to imagine a better Captain America than Chris Evans. Evans had already been around the superhero-movie block before taking the role. He’d done what he could as a devil-may-care playboy version of the Human Torch in two near-unbearable Fantastic Four movies. He’d been a superpowered test-subject mutant at war with shadowy governmental agencies in 2009’s misbegotten Push. He’d lampooned his own absurd handsomeness in the superhero-adjacent Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. He’d never really had much chance to be anything other than a life-size Ken doll. But he had a depth to him, and with Captain America, he finally got the chance to show it.

Evans had to be convinced to take the Captain America role, and he’s always hinted at a little discomfort with it. But he’s perfect. He’s warm and friendly and inspiring—all the things that Captain America is supposed to be. He spends so much of The First Avenger as a scrawny weakling—a special effect much more convincing than it probably should’ve been—that he has to find non-physical ways to project his own idealistic determination. And he does it. The sight of digitally shrunk Chris Evans refusing to back down after a beating from a movie-theater heckler—fists clenched, jaw bloodied, “I could do this all day”—remains one of the most indelible images that the MCU has given us. When he finally does balloon out to superhuman proportions, we’re already on his side. Throughout the movie, he struggles against his own propaganda utility, fervently and innocently trying to get out into the field and help his comrades.

Like Christopher Reeve’s Superman, Evans radiates genuine Boy Scout virtue, and he comes off as an anachronism even in the ’40s. The movie doesn’t joke about him or make him an object of fun. Instead, the movie is just as gee-whiz idealistic about Captain America as Captain America is about America. Even a hint of acid, sarcastic self-consciousness could’ve sunk the movie. In Evans, it has none.

Johnston and the producers built an impressive cast around Evans. As Agent Peggy Carter, Hayley Atwell brings a clipped Katharine Hepburn precision that’s enormously appealing. (The short-lived Agent Carter ABC spinoff, which kept that First Avenger tone intact, remains Marvel’s greatest TV project.) The grumpy authority figure is just Tommy Lee Jones playing Tommy Lee Jones. As Cap’s buddy Bucky, Sebastian Stan is a pleasant slab of beef, which is all he needs to be. Stanley Tucci has fun as the good-guy version of a mad-scientist character.

The only real weak point in the movie’s cast is Hugo Weaving, whose Red Skull has less fleshed-out humanity than Agent Smith, the computer program that Weaving played in the Matrix movies. Even Red Skull’s motivations are muddy. He tells Cap, his fellow super-serum test subject, that he’s “too afraid to admit that we have left humanity behind,” like a K-Mart-brand Magneto. Also: “I have seen the future, Captain! There are no flags!” I don’t know, that sounds pretty good, though it would presumably sound better if a muscle-faced fascist sorcerer wasn’t the one invoking it. (The Red Skull doesn’t even get a satisfying end. When he showed up in a quick surprise cameo in Avengers: Infinity War, I’d completely forgotten that he’d been sucked into a wormhole or whatever. It happens so quickly that you barely process it.)

The movie’s version of ’40s America is a blast. Many of the characters are just as gung-ho as Cap himself. When a HYDRA agent tries to slow Cap down by throwing a little kid into the Hudson, the kid squawks, “Go get ’im! I can swim!” Natalie Dormer, a year away from becoming Margaery Tyrell on Game Of Thrones, gives Cap a big situation-complicating smooch because she likes that he saved a bunch of guys (and also, presumably, because he looks like Chris Evans). In a quick montage after Cap’s apparent death, we see all of America uniting behind him as a martyr and a legend. It’s a comforting vision of a better, simpler version of America.

It’s probably too comforting. The movie only barely alludes to racial inequality in America. When Cap puts together his crack team of commandos, they’re a rainbow coalition, and nobody acts like that’s weird. I wasn’t around in the ’40s, but given what I know, that seems unlikely. I think the movie might’ve been more effective if Cap had seen and wrestled with America’s failures. The same is true of the ravages of warfare. None of the soldiers ever seem freaked out or traumatized. Instead, they just charge into battle, oblivious to their friends disintegrating all around them. (If the Red Skull’s magical weapons didn’t allow for bloodless, PG-13 death, some of those skirmishes would’ve looked like the beginning of Saving Private Ryan.)

In the movie’s second half, when it turns toward action, The First Avenger becomes a pretty generic (though well-done) superhero punch-up. A lot of the storytelling is clumsy and inelegant. At one point, Cap is suddenly in a motorcycle chase with Nazis, with no real setup and little indication of why he’s there. Most of the fight scenes are too CGI-heavy to be truly great, and a few of the effects scenes, like Bucky’s fall from the train, just look like ass. The big finale, when Cap wakes up in a decades-later New York City, is clearly just setup for the next movie, which means The First Avenger can never really stand as its own cohesive story. It’s not a perfect movie. There are real flaws.

But it’s also an elegant piece of myth-building, and small connections to the rest of Marvel enrich the whole world we’re seeing take shape. We meet Tony Stark’s father, a tycoon adventurer who connects the dots between Howard Hughes (who Johnston had depicted in The Rocketeer) and Stark himself. HYDRA science worm Arnim Zola first shows up as a face on a screen, a role he’ll grow into. Before getting his iconic shield, which honestly looks pretty great, Cap fashions one for himself out of a trash-can lid and a ripped-off car door. Marvel wouldn’t bring all its characters together for another year, but little touches like this make it a fuller experience.

Captain America: The First Avenger was a hit, but it wasn’t a huge one. It wasn’t one of the top 10 grossers of 2011; the same year’s decidedly shittier MCU entry, Thor, made more money. And yet it’s a crucial movie for the MCU, since it showed just how much fun this whole Marvel superhero business could be. After the initial miracle of 2008’s Iron Man, Marvel had made three straight movies that were not special at all. There are things worth appreciating in The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, and Thor, but none of them really demonstrates why this whole world matters to people. Captain America: The First Avenger made that case. And if it had failed in any of the myriad ways that it could’ve failed, the present-day movie landscape would presumably look very, very different.

Other notable 2011 superhero movies: Kenneth Branagh’s aforementioned Thor got one thing exactly right: Chris Hemsworth, who looks like a Michelangelo sculpture of a lion-man and who brings a crazy level of life to what was then an underwritten role. But the movie itself is a bore, full of turgid fantasy gobbledygook and thin CGI and sub-Crocodile Dundee fish-out-of-water jokes. The central love story is so across-the-board half-assed that it practically insults both Hemsworth and the paychecking-hard Natalie Portman, and even Tom Hiddleston’s slithery Loki is really only a rough draft for what would come.

The First Avenger wasn’t the only Marvel adaptation to go period-piece. Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class tried to make a swingin’ ’60s espionage thriller out of a prequel, which works pretty well. The cast—James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence—is almost hilariously overqualified, and while the period details never reach the full Mad Men-style immersion they were clearly shooting for, they’re fun enough. The CGI remains terrible, which for whatever reason is true of almost every X-Men movie. Whenever (speaking of Mad Men) January Jones’ Emma Frost turns into her diamond form, she looks like a Virtua Fighter character. This was a series bounce-back after the putrid X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but it was also a clear sign that the non-MCU Marvel movies would never be the main event.

2011’s notorious boondoggle was, of course, Green Lantern, a movie that managed to be a self-aware punchline in two different 2018 superhero movies, Deadpool 2 and Teen Titans Go! To The Movies. (As I’m typing this, I haven’t seen Aquaman or Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse yet, so it’s entirely possible that even more 2018 superhero movies will make fun of Green Lantern.) It is a 10 ten-car pileup of a movie. A post-Deadpool and pre-Deadpool Ryan Reynolds attempts to smirk his way through everything, Van Wilder-style, while the writers build a whole interstellar cosmology that somehow comes off both thin and over-developed. Various respected character actors submit themselves to the indignity of bad alien makeup. (In particular, Peter Sarsgaard, a very handsome man, falls victim to makeup-artist ambitions.) You can almost see Tim Robbins and pre-Black Panther’s mom Angela Bassett thinking, mid-scene, about how they’re going to spend the money that this bullshit is getting them. Also, Future Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi is in there in the nerdy tech-head comic-relief sidekick role? Altogether, Green Lantern makes for a great lesson of what can happen when you try to combine intelligence-insulting children’s entertainment with detail-heavy fan service without filling it all out with any kind of resonant storytelling. Also, Reynolds’ CGI super-suit might be the single ugliest costume in superhero-movie history.

And in other chartreuse-misfire news, Seth Rogen’s long-in-development The Green Hornet finally came out and made no impression. There’s certainly plenty of talent involved in the movie. For a while, slapstick visionary Stephen Chow was attached to both direct and to star as Kato, which would’ve been fascinating. Instead, the directing job ends up with Michel Gondry, the sometimes-great homespun music-video fantasist and Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind auteur. Rogen and his Superbad partner Evan Goldberg get the writing credits. Christoph Waltz played a villain, which is something that Christoph Waltz knows how to do. Cameron Diaz is in there, too, as Rogen’s implausible love interest. You would think that these people could do something great together, but instead it’s just a rote nothing of a movie, one that never quite gets around to demonstrating why it deserves to exist.

Also, it’s not really a superhero movie, but I remember thinking that Steven Spielberg’s feature-length CGI cartoon The Adventures Of Tintin was a lot more fun than its reputation would suggest. I have not revisited it.

Next time: In January, this column will tackle The Avengers, the long-planned corporate-crossover blockbuster, which kicked the MCU into high gear and proved just how entertaining this kind of movie, when executed just right, can be.