Sony surprised audiences tonight at their E3 conference with the announcement of an all-new Spider-Man game coming exclusively to PlayStation 4. The game is being developed by Insomniac games, recently known for Sunset Overdrive, and if Spider-Man plays anything like that, fans should be very pleased.
Along with the announcement came a trailer, which you can watch below. The trailer shows the Web Head swinging his way around New York City and fighting baddies. Also interesting, Spidey’s suit is unlike anything we have seen before. Some elements seem like nods to the recent Civil War suit but overall, it looks to be something entirely new.
On the PlayStation Blog, developer Insomniac posted, “Spider-Man is one of the most iconic and well-known characters in the world, and we’re thrilled to be given the responsibility to create a brand new, authentic Spider-Man story”. They also mentioned that this Spider-Man is unrelated to the upcoming MCU movie.
No release window was provided for the game, though given that it was just a CG trailer, I’d say we have at least two years before we get our hands on Insomniac’s Spider-Man.
I am not a DC hater. My favorite comic book characters have been Superman, Batman and then Spider-Man. My favorite comic book movie of all time is Superman: The Movie. But lately I have been enjoying Marvel’s movies and not so much DC’s.
A Brief History Of Marvel Movie Rights
Both Disney and Marvel had an uphill battle when they launched their Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Due to hard times and poor management, in 1997 Marvel sold the movie rights of most of their popular comic book characters to various studios.
The X-Men (Fox)
The Fantastic Four (Fox)
Black Panther (Fox)
Daredevil (Fox)
Deadpool (Fox)
Spider-Man (Sony)
Ghost Rider (Sony)
Luke Cage (Sony)
The Hulk (Universal)
Namor (Universal)
The Punisher (Lionsgate)
Black Widow (Lionsgate)
Iron Man (Paramount)
Captain America (Paramount)
Thor (Paramount)
On December 31, 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion dollars. During that time, Disney made it clear that they were looking to distribute future Marvel movies but only after previous deals made with Marvel and other movie studios had expired. In 2010, Disney purchased the distribution rights to Iron Man 3 and The Avengers from Paramount Pictures. In 2013, Disney worked out an arrangement with Paramount to distribute all of Paramount’s Marvel movies and reacquired the movie rights for all of Paramount’s Marvel characters. Slowly Disney was able to acquire the movie rights back for many of its comic book heroes and some just reverted back to Marvel. In 2015, Disney and Sony announced a mutually beneficially agreement that would bring Spider-Man into the MCU.
As of today, the movie rights that Disney does not have are The X-Men, Fantastic Four, Deadpool and Spider-Man. The good thing is that you can scratch off Spider-Man form that list because he is now part of the MCU, Marvel has creative control and I am still hopeful that they will get the rights back from Sony. The Fantastic Four is a very likely candidate of coming to the MCU after last year’s disastrous reboot and Fox just has no idea what to do with them. That leaves The X-Men (and Deadpool). That is going to be the toughest uphill battle for Disney and Marvel. The X-Men and Wolverine (and now Deadpool) have always been financially successful at the box office. X-Men: Apocalypse is being released this week and so far it has received mixed reviews. How this affects the box office, we’ll just have to wait and see. But if this really bombs (which I doubt), something could be in play. How many “good” adaptable X-Men stories are left?
Warning: SPOILERS Ahead!
Now before we get started, I want to mention that starting now I will get into SPOILER territory for Captain America: Civil War and Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice. So if you haven’t seen these movies, and are planning to see them, you may want to avoid the rest of this article.
“Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice”
vs
“Captain America: Civil War”
Captain America: Civil War and Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice have very similar stories and themes.
Both movies have two of their most popular superheroes (one being a multi billionaire and the other being a superhuman) battling each other.
They both have the public being afraid of superheroes even though these heroes have saved the lives of millions of people.
They introduce new superheroes.
There is a villain behind the scenes pulling the strings.
They all love their mothers.
But one of them was praised by the critics and moviegoers and the other one wasn’t. So what happened?
Marvel Took Their Time Building The MCU
The first movie in the MCU was Iron Man, which was released on May 2, 2008. Since then, they have released close to two Marvel movies each year. Iron Man alone has been in 6 MCU movies and even made a small cameo in The Incredible Hulk. Robert Downey Jr was excellently cast as Tony Stark and Iron Man and through the years we just got to know him; his personality, his humor, his genius. We have seen his triumphs and failures along with his strength and vulnerabilities. Marvel later released individual movies for Captain America and Thor. The Incredible Hulk movie is also considered a part of the MCU and with those 4 components, they combined all of those characters from their individual movies to join forces in one epic event movie, The Avengers. The movie was a critical and financial success. Marvel has released 13 movies in the MCU and all of them have been financially successful. Warner Brothers saw the financial success that Disney and Marvel were having and decided that they wanted a piece of the box office pie. As mentioned previously, even though Disney owns Marvel Entertainment, the film rights to some of it’s most popular character are at different studios. Warner Brothers does not have that problem but they are rushing to catch up with Marvel and by doing so not giving the audience the chance to get to know the characters.
In my opinion, Batman V Superman is a bad film with some great parts and Captain America: Civil War is a great film with some bad parts. BVS gets so much wrong and Civil War get so much right. Superman does not like Batman because he feels he is operating outside the law, is a vigilante and he is destructive. Batman does not like Superman for the same exact reasons. I have no idea what Luthor’s motive is in this except at first he wants to kill Superman and then he changes his mind and wants to kill Batman. Then he decides if they cant kill themselves he’ll create something that will kill them both and the whole world, including himself. Superman saves Lois from some terrorists and later he is accused of killing people…….with bullets.
The shocking moment for some viewers was the death of Superman. So after just one movie, they decide to kill off Superman in his second movie. Is Superman gone for good? No. There is an Inception like ending at Superman’s coffin showing dirt rising from his coffin. At worst, he is in a coma. Now if Superman and Batman had around 6 movies in total with a few movies with both of them in it, his death would have meant something. Batman spent most of the movie trying to kill Superman. They both become friends because both of their mother’s names were Martha. Batman is friends with Superman for 10 minutes and then Superman dies. Again, there was no weight to that moment no matter how sad Batman looked. In Captain America: Civil War, what should have happened is Captain America should have died. That event happened in the comic books right after Civil War and this would have had tremendous weight because Steve and Tony had known and worked together for years and they were friends. No one cares that Superman dies, especially the audience, because we never got a chance to know him and let’s face it, he was a downer.
Not Every Superhero Movie Has To Be “The Dark Knight”
Without a doubt, Batman has been the most popular and financially successful superhero in their line of movies. It all began with Tim Burton’s Batman, which was heavily inspired by Frank Miller’s comic book, The Dark Knight Returns. No longer was Batman doing the Batoozie and had a sidekick in shorts and pixie boots. This Batman was very dark. He was brutal, uncaring to criminals and was as scary as some of the criminals he faced. Years later the series was rebooted with Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight series. This series was very successful and for the most part these movies stood on their own even if you eliminated Batman from the equation. The problem with the Dark Knight movies is even though they contained Batman in the films, this was more or less Christopher Nolan’s vision of the character and didn’t really reflect the actual character that was found in the Batman comic books.
The only character that has had a good track record financially is Batman. WB did not have confidence in Superman in order to give Man Of Steel a proper sequel so they added Batman to the mix. Batman will be in Suicide Squad. Batman will be the leader of The Justice League. Ben Affleck was star as Batman in a new Batman Trilogy. For WB, it’s a Batman world. They need to get the actual comic book writers involved and not give so much power to the directors. Make that director because Zack Snyder has directed Man Of Steel, Batman V Superman and will direct Justice League Parts 1 and 2. All of Zack Snyder’s movies (300, The Watchmen, Sucker Punch) exist in dark worlds. He is a dark director, the majority of the DC superheroes are not.
Superman was never meant to be dark. Go back to the Christopher Reeve films. Yes, the last two movies were bad but if you just focus on Reeve’s performance, he was still excellent as Clark Kent and Superman in those movies and that included adding humor for both characters. The audience laughs at Clark’s bumblings because they know he is doing it intentionally so that people could never associate him with Superman. They look up to Superman as a defender of Truth, Justice and The American Way. That character does not exist in the current DC Cinematic Universe (DCCU). Christopher Reeve’s Superman is a superhero first, an American second, an alien last. Henry Cavill’s Superman is an alien first, a superhero last.
There is no humor in Man Of Steel or Batman V Superman. For the most part, I cant think of any Marvel films displaying dark heroes. At worst is The Hulk and he actually provides a lot of comic relief in the Avengers movies. Even “Thor Dark World”, which has the word “dark” in the title, is one of the funnier Marvel movies. Now if you want to see a dark Marvel superhero, watch “Daredevil” on Netflix. But his character has always had a dark past and they execute it perfectly in the Netflix series. It’s about staying faithful to the character, which Marvel gets and WB does not.
Captain America Is More Superman Than Superman Is In The DCCU
As I had mentioned before, Superman is my favorite superhero. If I had a chance to save either Captain America or Superman, I’ll just say that I would really miss Captain America. The biggest mistake you can make with Superman is going against his core values. Superman was saved by his parents from Krypton’s destruction and Earth was made his adoptive home. He was raised by an elderly couple from Kansas, who shared their values with him and made him the good man and hero he would become. Superman felt a debt of gratitude to the people of the planet Earth because he was given a second chance at life. That is why Superman felt it was his duty to protect the people of this planet with his life. Zack Snyder’s version of Superman was all wrong. In his version, his adopted parents taught him not to trust people and filled him with anxiety that if his powers were found out, the government would take him away. In Man Of Steel, Superman was a reluctant superhero. Jonathan Kent tells young Clark in MOS, maybe you should have let all of those children in that school bus in the river just die. What? In BVS, Superman is more miserable than ever. A lot of the population see Superman as a threat to their existence and that just gets him down. His mother tells him, you don’t have to be a superhero if you don’t want too. Superman has some crappy parents in these movies.
Captain America on the other hand, what is his main goal in every movie? To save the people. He doesn’t care if people like him or not, his first concern is always the people first. When he is informed in Age Of Ultron that they have to blow up floating Sakovia or else it will kill billions of people below, his first response is, “I am not leaving these people.” Like Superman, Captain America does feel like an outsider but he puts that aside because he loves this country and what it stands for, even if at times it loses it’s way. He believes in the fundamental beliefs that this country was founded on. That is what Superman should be and unfortunately he is not in the DCCU.
Marvel Knows How To Introduce New Characters Without Origin Stories
If you ask anyone who has seen BVS what did they like best, almost everyone will say Wonder Woman. She looks great. She kicks butt. But why is she there? She is there because she wants to steal a digital copy of a photo of her from when she was alive back in World War I. I don’t know how smart Wonder Woman is but if you steal a digital copy, you have the photo now, but so does the guy who had it originally. Not her fault but poor script writing. They also introduced Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash, who just happened to be on that same flash drive and we see a few second clips of Aquaman beating up a camera with his trident and stuff like that. In Civil War, Spider-Man is introduced into the MCU. Tony tracks down Peter Parker and reveals he knows he is Spider-Man and needs his help to take down Team Cap. We dont get an origin story again. Peter says, “When you can do the things that I can, but you don’t, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you.” That’s all we need to hear becasue we know he is talking about what happened with Uncle Ben and him. Tom Holland steals the show in this because he is a perfect Spider-Man and Peter Parker. He has Spidey’s moves and he never shuts up during the battle and that is Spider-Man. We are also introduced to Black Panther and for the most part with him, we don’t need an origin story. We know he is a prince, his father was killed and he is out for revenge. He dons his Black Panther suit and works with Tony because he believes Bucky killed his father. This movie showed for even people who never knew about the character, you don’t want to mess around with Black Panther. In the end we saw Black Panther as a leader, a hero and a rational man. After Civil War, most people looked forward to seeing Spider-Man and Black Panther in their own movies. After BVS, people were interested in Wonder Woman but no one gave a damn about Aquaman, Cyborg or Flash.
So What Does DC Get Right That Marvel Gets Wrong?
Marvel definitely does a lot right but they aren’t perfect and could use some help from DC movies when it comes to these issues:
The Musical Score – Hans Zimmer has scored the soundtracks for The Dark Knight Series, Man Of Steel and BVS and each one really adds to the movie so much that the movies would not have the same impact without them. Superman has a theme. Batman has a theme. Wonder Woman has an amazing theme! Can you hum Ant-Man or Thor’s theme? Probably not because they really aren’t memorable. For the most part the musical score for MCU films are just generic action movie music. I hope one day that changes. Star Wars was very successful but a lot of that success came from that score by John Williams. Get your act together Marvel. Hire someone like Hans Zimmer, Howard Shore, John Powell, Thomas Newman or Michael Giacchino. I’m sure you have the money.
The Costumes – DC movies do an excellent job with costumes. For the most part, Marvel has too but there have been some exceptions. I think the Falcon costume really needs more color and needs to look less military grade. The Scarlet Witch’s costume just looks like she is going out for a night out on the town. I have never really liked the Captain America costumes (loved his Winter Soldier costume though!). More like tolerated them. The best move they did was to show his ears finally. Fix that red middle stripe on Cap’s costume already! Two movies it’s been like this?
They Kill Their Heroes – Yes, DC killed off a major superhero, Superman. No, they shouldn’t have killed him so soon. But they had the guts to kill him. Only one superhero died in the MCU after 13 movies and that was Quicksilver, which was a minor character. Captain America should have died in this movie and been replaced by Bucky as the new Captain America. War Machine definitely should have died in Civil War. I like both of them but sometimes heroes have to die in order for their adventure to have meaning. Thanks to Taylor Katcher and Ron D’Anna for pointing this out to me.
Keep Your Masks On – You rarely see a comic book hero in the comic with his mask off, but if you are paying Robert Downey Jr. $100 million to play Iron Man, they want to make sure you see RDJ’s face as much as possible. Even worse is Chris Evans who half of his movies he goes around in civilian clothes or his mask just happens to get conveniently knocked off. Never saw Batman take off his mask once (maybe once).
The Villains – It’s tough to beat Heath Ledger’s portrayal as The Joker. The Joker is probably the world’s best known comic book villain. DC also has Lex Luthor (if they ever get him right), Darkseid, Sinestro, Braniac, Black Adam and Deathstroke. So far the only good villain we have seen in the MCU has been Loki and maybe Ultron. Thanos is coming but he hasn’t done much yet. If Marvel ever gets the movie rights to The Fantastic Four, they will get Doctor Doom (Fox never got him right) and that would make the MCU very interesting.
Conclusion
In the end, I guess it could be summed up as DC movies are dark, Marvel movies are fun, not everyone has to be Batman and don’t rush your movie franchise. We now live in a great world where we can expect to see at least three superhero movies a year. I just want them to be as great as they can be and not have the bad ones emerge over what could have been. I love Marvel. I love DC. I want to love all of their movies. And maybe, just maybe one day, we may see all of these heroes and villains (Marvel and DC) on the big screen battling each other.
In this week’s edition of The Jedi, Hero and Princess Podcast we discuss the long term Disney live action movie lineup. Nick yells at Disney over pin trading vouchers. Zoe tells us about Tsum Tsum and other adorable things she bought and things that on the way. Brendt gives us his take on the latest Marvel news. There is a lot of great new Star Wars merch out and on the way, including new Pop! Funko. All that, along with our most embarrassing moments, a bracket tournament champ is crowned and a contest winner is chosen.
The Jedi, Hero and Princess is a biweekly podcast about all things Disney, Star Wars and Marvel. There are plenty places to get the latest news and commentary of the day, but JHP offers fun, lively, casual discussions about things going on across the Disney universe. Each show, go Shopping with Zoe and find out some of the coolest and often most adorable products out there. Brendt fills us in on Marvel comics, TV, movies and merchandise. And Nick finds some of the best stories in the galaxy. JHP has competitions, keeps you up to date on the latest collectibles and at the end of each show, the fan favorite “Most Embarrassing Moment Since the Last Podcast.”
“Captain America: Civil War” Is The Best Film In “The Captain America Trilogy”; Best “Spider-Man” Ever!
“Captain America: Civil War” continues in the tradition of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” where it is not only a great superhero movie it is a great action/thriller with a nice blend of humor. So far there have been 13 movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and the ones that have stood out for me were “The Avengers” (2012), “Guardians Of The Galaxy” (2014), “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” (2014) and the one that started it all, “Iron Man” (2008). I can add one more to the list because “Captain America: Civil War” really delivers the goods.
When last we saw the Avengers, Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) had assembled a new team consisting of Black Widow (Scarlet Johannson), Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), War Machine (Don Cheeadle), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olson) and Vision (Paul Bettany).
In this movie, we see Cap’s new team working together to take down a group of terrorists in Lagos. Unfortunately, the mission doesn’t go down as planned and there are now many who wonder if the Avengers are doing more harm than good.
Leading the charge against the world’s superheroes is Secretary Of State, Thunderbolt Ross (William Hurt). Ross believes that after the collateral damage that occurred during “The Avengers”, “The Winter Soldier” and “Age Of Ultron,” all superheroes must be kept in check and under a short leash. Ross wants The Avengers to sign the Sakovia Accords, which puts the Avengers under Government control. Captain America leads the anti registration group with several of the Avengers but is at odds with Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) who leads a group that is pro registration.
But the main conflict occurs when the Government wants to bring in The Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) for terrorist activity. Iron Man and his team want to bring The Winter Soldier in to answer for his crimes but Team Cap is not going to allow that to happen and what follows is a superhero battle royal that will be long remembered.
It’s hard not to compare “Civil War” with “Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice”. Both films tackle similar themes such as the public’s fear and distrust of superheroes. If you think about it, this was originally addressed in “The Incredibles” too. What “Civil War” gets right is that the story is well written, it flows and it is a fun movie. In “Batman V Superman”, EVERYONE is miserable and the motives for why they want to destroy each other make no sense. In “Civil War”, you can see both sides and there will be times where you yourself will flip between your alliance with Team Cap and Team Iron Man.
Another reason why this movie works is because we have had time to watch these characters develop and grow in their own movies and also in two Avengers movies. We have seen them as friends, teammates and now we see them as enemies. That carries a lot of weight because we have grown to care about the characters and you know that it is difficult for them to be at odds because in some ways they are like family. Watching Captain America battle with Iron Man is like watching two brothers you know fight.
What I also enjoyed about this movie is everyone did an excellent job portraying their characters. I didn’t like Elizabeth Olson as The Scarlet Witch in “Age Of Ultron” but she won me over in this movie. At times you feel the most sympathy for her character and she does an excellent job of being conflicted by some of her actions. Scarlett Johansson also does a much better job in this movie than she did in “Age Of Ultron” and it makes you forget the horrible Black Widow/Hulk love story.
The big question that everyone wants answered is, “How is the MCU version of Spider-Man?” My biggest fear was that Spider-Man would be shoehorned into this movie since Marvel and Sony had just reached a deal to bring Spider-Man to the MCU only weeks before the movie was to begin filming.
I’m glad to say that not only is Tom Holland’s version of Spider-Man great, it’s perfect. I think what brings this home is Holland’s portrayal of Peter Parker, which was never really right in Sony’s movies. He comes across as a teenager that is interested in science and technology more than being a stud with the ladies. Holland’s on screen chemistry with Downey’s works so well. I can’t wait to see them reunite for “Spider-Man: Homecoming”. You’ll be glad that you saw so little of Spider-Man in the trailers when you finally see him in the movie for yourself.
Another great addition to the MCU is Chadwick Boseman, who’s portrayal of The Black Panther/T’Challa is nothing less than fantastic. You may actually walk away from this movie having a difficult time deciding as to whether Spider-Man or The Black Panther stole the movie. I’m actually looking more forward to seeing “The Black Panther” movie now more than “Spider-Man: Homecoming”.
Third contender for the superhero that steals the movie is “Ant-Man”. Paul Rudd reprises his role as Scott Lang/Ant-Man and he is definitely a welcome addition to The Avengers. Most of the comic relief comes from Ant-Man and Spider-Man but they also have some of the best battle scenes in the movie. Don’t want to spoil the surprise but lets just say he has a bigger role in this movie than you would expect.
OK, here comes some of the negative stuff, but not too much and not too major.
The “Shaky” Cam – The worst thing in this movie is The Russo Brothers use of the dreaded “shaky” cam. First introduced in “The Bourne Identity”, it puts the camera way too close with an effect that makes you feel you are in the middle of the action. It can be nauseating for some but for me it is just disorienting and distracting. Fortunately, it’s not too bad during the airport battle.
Lackluster Villain – Baron Zemo is a horrible and boring villain. Unfortunately, the MCU has never really had a good track record with their villains, other than Loki, and this movie continues the trend. What helps is that most of the battles consist of Team Cap vs Team Iron Man.
The Musical Score – The score is completely forgettable and just filler for the action scenes. I really wish Marvel would hire Hans Zimmer who did great work scoring both “The Dark Knight” series and “Man Of Steel”.
Giant Lettered Fonts For Cities – You’ll understand when you see it.
Overall this is another fantastic film in the MCU. I cant wait to see “Civil War” again….and again.
I give “Captain America: Civil War” 4 out of 5 stars.
Right now if you link your Disney Movie Rewards and Fandango VIP accounts, you will receive a free CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR poster (just pay $3.75 shipping & processing) or you can purchase the full set for $17.99. Just click here.
Robert Downey Jr. Joins The Cast Of “Spider-Man: Homecoming”
The partnership between Marvel and Sony keeps expanding into the movies with Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man) joining Tom Holland(Spider-Man) in “Spider-Man: Homecoming” This will be the third reboot, yes I said third, for the Spider-Man movie franchise and if anyone in the Marvel Cinematic Universe can help make it be successful it is Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal of Iron Man and Tony Stark.
From The Hollywood Reporter:
It looks like the team-up of Spider-Man and Iron Man seen in Captain America: Civil War won’t be the duo’s last.
Robert Downey Jr., who plays the red-and-gold-armored Marvel character, has closed a deal to join the cast of Spider-Man: Homecoming, Marvel and Sony’s reboot of the web-crawling superhero, sources tell THR.
Tom Holland will star as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and is making his debut as the character in Civil War (and already garnering praise for his take on the role).
The movie establishes a key relationship between Tony Stark/Iron Man and Parker, and Homecoming will continue that thread.
According to many reviews, Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Holland have great chemistry in “Captain America: Civil War” and Tony acts as a mentor to Peter Parker as does Iron Man to Spider-Man.
Tony Stark Uses His Influence To Promote “Captain America: Civil War” Using The Eiffel Tower
Robert Downey Jr. has been definitely keeping himself busy lately. Recently he was out promoting “Captain America: Civil War” as Tony Stark and incorporated some STARK Technology to promote “Team Iron Man”. Check it out:
The Newest “Spider-Man” Movie Is Called “Spider-Man: Homecoming”; Logo Revealed
The title of the newest Spider-Man movie was actually leaked online a few weeks ago. The problem back then was no one really believed it because “Homecoming” just sounded, well, weird. Sony officially announced that “Spider-Man: Homecoming” was indeed the title and also revealed the official logo.
Even though this is the third reboot, yes, I am saying third again, this is the first Spider-Man film to take place in the MCU. As mentioned above, we will see Tony Stark and Iron Man make a visit but we can expect to see even more. My best guess is Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury. Fury has been instrumental in bringing together all of the members of The Avengers and wouldn’t surprise me if he is under Fury’s watchful eye.
But what could Homecoming be about? Amazing Spider-Man #252 was released in May 1984 and it was titled “Homecoming”:
I actually have this issue and I remember that the significance of this issue was that this was the first time that Spider-Man began using his black costume that he obtained off world during Marvel’s Secret Wars. This is still my favorite Spider-Man costume but was later revealed that this costume was a living symbiote that was slowly taking over Peter. Peter eventually was able to escape the control of the symbiote and the costume quickly bonded with Eddie Brock who became one of Spider-Man’s most popular villains, Venom. I absolutely love this story and the symbiote story-line but no way will they be addressing this so soon. They also botched up this story once in “Spider-Man 3”. Curse you Sam Rami!
More than likely, Homecoming will relate to Spider-Man’s homecoming into the MCU. Spidey is finally home where he belongs. Lets hope that third times a charm!
Comparing “Captain America’s” Costumes In “Avengers: Age Of Ultron” And “Civil War”
“Age Of Ultron” (left) vs “Civil War” (right)
While looking at the promo art for “Captain America: Civil War”, I noticed a few changes to Captain America’s costume. At first glance, and especially in the trailers, the costumes look identical but if you look above you can see changes a bit more easier.
Here is a list of differences I was able to see:
CW costume has no red on the collar and chest. Mostly blue now.
CW shows blue on his bicep, larger red stripe. Ultron was white.
Costume seems darker now. Could be lack of red and white though.
Red stripe on leg is longer and straighter.
Star is different. Looks smaller or could be higher up.
Chest area is less segmented and more solid now.
Knee pads are smaller.
Gloves are shorter now.
Boots are new and black instead of brown.
Belts are slightly different.
VIDEO: Teaser For Marvel’s “Civil War II”; First Look At Panels
Here is our first look at some comic book panels and the synopsis for the sequel to the comic book series that the upcoming movie, “Captain America: Civil War” is (loosely) based on. But to start things off, let’s check out this cool teaser trailer:
This is it! War comes to the Marvel Universe this June as the Earth-shattering comics event of 2016 comes to comic shops with a jam-packed double-size issue! Today, Marvel is pleased to present your exciting look inside CIVIL WAR II #1, from chartbusting creators Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez! The fan-fave creative team that brought you INVINCIBLE IRON MANjoin forces once more to bring you a tale of hero against hero – and a Marvel Universe divided in two!
Ulysses – a young Inhuman with the power to profile the future has emerged. His new abilities send shockwaves through the superhuman community. Divided amongst themselves, will they use Ulysses to prevent danger before it happens? Or should they allow the future to unfold unaltered? As his new powers send shockwaves rippling across the Marvel Universe, battle lines will be drawn. Do you stand with Iron Man? Or will you side with Captain Marvel?
Will the heroes of the Marvel Universe wield the power of “predictive justice” to change the future or battle to protect tomorrow? Battle lines will be drawn. Lives will be changed. Heroes will fall. The comic book event that will have the world talking kicks off on June 1 in the double-sized CIVIL WAR II #1!
Plus – don’t miss two opening salvos of CIVIL WAR II this May! Head to your local comic shop on Free Comic Book Day for an exciting prologue to Civil War II by Brian Michael Bendis & Jim Cheung. Then, pick up CIVIL WAR II #0 by Brian Michael Bendis and Olivier Coipel – on sale later that month!
Robert Downey Jr. Stops By A Children’s Hospital To Brighten Some Fans Day
Robert Downey Jr. paid a visit to the Great Ormand Street Hospital to meet on of his biggest fans, Ethan Miller (above). Ethan suffers from a rare blood disease as well as Type One Diabetes.
Downey also met with some other young fans that were in the hospital to chat and take photos with them.
Ryan Reynolds Writes Touching Eulogy For His Friend And Fan, Connor McGrath
Connor Mcgrath, the world’s biggest Deadpool fan, sadly lost his battle with cancer on April 26th. “Deadpool’ star, Ryan Reynolds and Connor bonded over Ryan’s portrayal of “Deadpool”. Ryan visited Connor with a rough cut of the movie making Connor the first person in the world to see the movie before it was released.
Ryan posted this touching dedication for Connor on Facebook:
For three straight years, my friend, Connor McGrath drop-kicked cancer… Not sure how… Maybe the cancer cheated… But the fight came to an end two nights ago.
In my wildest dreams, I can’t imagine how hard this is for his parents Kim and Gerald – along with his extended family in Newfoundland.
Connor was 13. But this kid… He was smart. He was funny. And not just funny ‘for a kid’ – or funny ‘for a person battling something awful’. He was unqualified funny. He had that… thing.
That thing you see in great performers or comedy writers. A running commentary/observational skill people are just lucky to be born with.
He went way too early and it’s impossible to reconcile. Connor was a great friend, a great son, and a light to the people lucky enough to know him. While repeatedly punching cancer in the balls, he made everyone laugh. Including the entire staff who cared for him at Edmonton’s Stollery Children’s Hospital.
It was the Make-A-Wish Foundation that brought us together. I can’t thank them enough. Seriously. Thank you. Because of his wish, Connor was the first person to see Deadpool. I traveled up to Edmonton, Alberta to surprise him with a rough cut of the film. There were still huge sections with wires we hadn’t yet painted out, jokes which weren’t working (and still aren’t) and green screens. Connor didn’t seem to mind. And I’d never felt luckier to get to be Wade Wilson.
***Before you jump down my throat for showing a 13 year old an R-Rated film, please know this kid knew more swear words than a British chef.
I went back to Edmonton 6 weeks later and I wish I could say things were looking up. After my visit, I didn’t know if I was saying goodbye or see ya later. Sitting here now, I realize it was both.
I’m grateful I got to orbit Connor’s world for a brief time. Grateful for the pages and pages of hilarious texts between us. Grateful to his parents for allowing Connor to spend time with a foul-mouthed child in the body of a 39 year old.
I called Connor, “Bubba”. And he called me “Bubba2”. We met because he loved Deadpool. In a certain sense he WAS Deadpool. Or, at least everything Deadpool aspires to be; balancing pain, fearlessness, love and a filthy (filthy!) sense of humor in one body. I wish he could’ve stuck around a lot longer.
If you’d like to donate to The Make-A-Wish Foundation, I can pretty much guarantee, your money’s going to a damn good place. These people do not suck. They are heroic. Full stop. https://makeawishna.ca/wishes/donate
My deepest condolences and thanks to Kim, Gerald and the entire clan McGrath — who loved this little boy so very well. And thankfully, Connor knew it.
How “Batman V Superman” Inspired “Captain America: Civil War”
This is making the rounds as news but if you have been following the soap opera between Marvel and DC, it was always there.
The Russo Brothers were recently being interviewed by The Hollywood Reporter and here is what they had to say:
For our part, when we finished Winter Soldier two years ago and we were thinking about doing the next one, the only thing that seemed interesting to us was to deconstruct the Marvel Universe — because where else can we go at this point? There have been 11 or 12 movies so far, all with a fairly traditional structure. Our pitch to them was: People will tell you they love chocolate ice cream — until you give it to them five days a week. It’s time to give them some rainbow sherbet. Kevin [Feige] is a maverick and he’s very sensitive to how people are responding to his content. He said he thought we might be right. And after they announced Batman v. Superman, he said, ‘you guys are absolutely right.’ We needed to do something challenging with the material or we were going to start to lose the audience.
Here is how I remember the events that lead to “Batman V Superman” and “Civil War”:
During the 2014 Sand Diego Comic Con, director Zack Snyder announced that his sequel to “Man Of Steel” would be “Batman Vs Superman”. No “V” and no “Dawn Of Justice Yet”.
A few months later, Marvel announced “Captain America 3” which was originally called “Serpent Society”. Later it was revealed that the tile had changed to “Civil War” and Robert Downey Jr. would be joining the cast.
DC originally announces that “Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice” will be released on July 7, 2015 and then changes the date to May 6, 2016. Possibly to avoid “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”, which was supposed to originally be released in May of 2015.
Marvel decides to take DC on head on and shortly announces that they will be releasing “Captain America: Civil War” on the same day, May 6, 2016, as “Batman V Superman”. Who will win the epic battle of the box office?
DC blinks and decides to release “Batman V Superman” on March 25, 2016 in order to avoid any box office battle.
So there you have it. Marvel was confident to take on “Batman Vs Superman” with “Captain America 3” and at the time, I thought they were crazy. But as history will show, “Batman V Superman” got negative reviews and “Civil War” received amazing reviews and a lot of reviewers are calling “Civil War” the best superhero movie ever made. The lesson is don’t bet against Marvel.
The Russo Brothers Reveal That “Avengers: Infinity War” Will Not Be Subtitled “Part 1” And “Part 2”
While speaking with Uproxx.com, The Russo Brothers said the following:
I asked the brothers how they decided where to divide the movie – and they said this was a misconception because the two movies are entirely different entities.
“The movies are two very different movies,” answered Joe.
I then asked if it’s misleading having them labeled as “Part 1” and “Part 2”
“It is misleading,” said Anthony.
Joe added, “The intention is we will change it, we just haven’t come up with the titles yet. But, yes, we will change it. And, yes, that is a scoop: we will retitle them.”
Makes sense. I’m thinking Part 1 will be called “The Infinity Gauntlet” and Part 2 will be called “The Infinity War”. What do you think?
“The Punisher” will now join the likes of “Daredevil”, “Jessica Jones” “Luke Cage” and “Iron Fist” and have his own Marvel series on Netflix.
From Entertainment Weekly:
It’s official: The Punisher is getting his own TV series.
EW has learned that Marvel has ordered a spin-off starring vigilante character introduced in Daredevil season 2.
Jon Bernthal will reprise his role as vengeful military veteran Frank Castle, who brings his own lethal form of justice to Hell’s Kitchen.
Writer and executive producer Steve Lightfoot (Hanniba, Casualty) will serve as showrunner.
Marvel’sThe Punisher marks the sixth series ordered (so far) as part of the collaboration between Netflix and Marvel Television, including the upcoming Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and the ensemble miniseries The Defenders – along with Jessica Jones and the aforementioned Daredevil. (And in case you’re wondering, as we are, whether Bernthal’s character will also be added to The Defenders lineup, that’s not yet clear – though it seems likely he’ll at least pop in for an appearance.)
First Look At Finn Jones On The Set Of “Iron Fist”
ComingSoon.com got their hands on some photos of Finn Jones as Danny Rand/Iron Fist on the set of the upcoming Marvel series, “Iron Fist”, which will be available on Netflix.
NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 29: Finn Jones in the title role of Marvel? Netflix’s “Iron Fist” on April 29, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Steve Sands/GC Images)
These photos look like Danny Rand being trained in the martial arts of Kung Fu.
NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 29: Finn Jones in the title role of Marvel? Netflix’s “Iron Fist” on April 29, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Steve Sands/GC Images)
NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 29: Finn Jones in the title role of Marvel? Netflix’s “Iron Fist” on April 29, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Steve Sands/GC Images)
NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 29: Finn Jones in the title role of Marvel? Netflix’s “Iron Fist” on April 29, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Steve Sands/GC Images)
“Spider-Man” Shown In Target Exclusive “Civil War” Playset
Several Target Exclusive Civil War Playsets have made their way onto Ebay and this appears to be the first actual “Civil War” merchandise to contain the MCU version of “Spider-Man”.
Spider-Man has mostly been sparse in order to save his debut for the actual “Civil War” movie, but I am sure as the days go by we will see more and more “Spider-Man” merchandise made available.
Breaking Down The Newest “Captain America: Civil War” Trailer
The newest “Captain America: Civil War” was released this week and this trailer gives us a better idea of the story than anything we have seen before. Lets take a look at the trailer first and then I will give my interpretation of what is going on.
Keep in mind that this is all speculation and opinion on my part based on what I am seeing and from what I have read from the Civil War comic book series. Also after viewing this trailer several times, the placement of these clips are not chronological and they are cut together in a way that may be intentionally deceptive. OK, here we go.
The first shot we see is an island in a frozen wasteland. This appears to be holding someone dangerous, who ends up being….
The only character that has had a good track record financially is Batman. WB did not have confidence in Superman in order to give Man Of Steel a proper sequel so they added Batman to the mix. Batman will be in Suicide Squad. Batman will be the leader of The Justice League. Ben Affleck was star as Batman in a new Batman Trilogy. For WB, it’s a Batman world. They need to get the actual comic book writers involved and not give so much power to the directors. Make that director because Zack Snyder has directed Man Of Steel, Batman V Superman and will direct Justice League Parts 1 and 2. All of Zack Snyder’s movies (300, The Watchmen, Sucker Punch) exist in dark worlds. He is a dark director, the majority of the DC superheroes are not.
It’s hard not to compare “Civil War” with “Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice”. Both films tackle similar themes such as the public’s fear and distrust of superheroes. If you think about it, this was originally addressed in “The Incredibles” too. What “Civil War” gets right is that the story is well written, it flows and it is a fun movie. In “Batman V Superman”, EVERYONE is miserable and the motives for why they want to destroy each other make no sense. In “Civil War”, you can see both sides and there will be times where you yourself will flip between your alliance with Team Cap and Team Iron Man.
The first shot we see is an island in a frozen wasteland. This appears to be holding someone dangerous, who ends up being….