What's Left for Marvel Studios?

Well, Marvel just announced their "Phase 3" in the Marvel Cinematic universe. And Phase 2 still has two more films to debut with Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man. Of course, there is also Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., now featuring comic character Mockingbird, as well as the upcoming spin-off series Agent Carter. And don't forget the Netflix deal featuring Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and Jessica Drew all teaming up as the Defenders.

All of this leads me to ask... what's left? Naturally, the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man properties are out of reach, with each planning long-term franchise films under other studios, so what properties does Marvel Studio have left that could translate well to film or television?

10. The Eternals

If Thor's tale is truly coming to an end, as the title Thor: Ragnarok would suggest, it could be just the right time to introduce Jack Kirby's other pantheon. Although not initially written as part of the Marvel universe, The Eternals created a rich mythology of cosmic beings as only Jack Kirby could envision.

When a race of faceless titans from space known only as the Celestials visited the planet Earth, they manipulated the DNA of early hominids to create two incredible races: the Eternals and the Deviants. The Eternals were perfect immortal beings living high in the mountains while the Deviants were hideous mutated creatures living deep underground. Locked in ageless conflict, their tales gave birth to the myths of man. Greek myth, in particular, was inspired by names like Ikaris, Sersi, Thena, Ajak, and Makkar. Every few thousand years, the Celestials would return space to judge their creation either by blessing or destruction. Like the comic, a film would center around the latest (and perhaps, final) judgment of the Celestials.

Additionally, this could be an interesting way to introduce the character of Hercules to the Marvel Universe. Although not a part of these stories in the comics, Hercules debuted years earlier as part of a more traditional Greek pantheon and a counterpart for Thor. Since the Greek gods have not had the same level of development as the gods of Asgard, this could be a clever way to streamline the character.

9. Squadron Supreme

If Marvel really wants to stick it to DC, they will produce a Squadron Supreme film. Although it wouldn't be set in the same Marvel universe, this could be a way to expand into the Marvel multiverse.

The Squadron Supreme began as blatant counterparts of the Justice League from another universe as a means to have the Avengers fight their competition from another company. Years later, in the 12-issue Squadron Supreme miniseries, their story was expanded as a cautionary tail of a small group of well-intentioned people who think they can run the world. This was revamped more recently as Supreme Power by J. Michael Straczynski which focused on the alienation and manipulation suffered by the heroes of this world prior to their authoritarian take over.

As a film, it could easily be seen as a criticism of the Distinguished Competition's more grim and gritty approach to filmmaking.

8. Runaways

Runaways is a huge fan favorite Marvel series created by Brian K. Vaughn and featuring such writing talents as Joss Whedon and Terry Moore. The series focuses around a group of teenagers who discover that their parents are supervillains. They come together as a team to foil their plans before running away to live on their own.

Since the characters of Runaways have no costumes or codenames, they are very easy to adapt into other media, but perhaps they would do best as television show. As a companion to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Runaways would be an easy sell to a younger demographic, and with a cabal of villains at the heart of the premise, it would be easy to work in new characters with powers of their own.

The only thing that might give Disney pause is the fear of promoting running away from home as a solution to your problems.

7. Ghost Rider

Now that Marvel has the license back to Ghost Rider, it's just a question of where they will use it. No doubt that Doctor Strange will open the doors to the supernatural world of the Marvel universe, so will Ghost Rider be there to drive through them? Will they continue to use the character of Johnny Blaze after the last two films?

Although Blaze has the strongest origin and longest association with the character, Ghost Rider actually soared to popularity with the introduction of teenager Danny Ketch as the host of the Spirit of Vengeance... although that probably has more to do with his dramatic redesign. In those comics, Johnny Blaze returned as a drifter with a shotgun that fired hellfire. I could definitely see that approach inspiring the Marvel films, especially if they want to distance themselves from Nicholas Cage.

6. New Warriors

One popular element of superhero comics that is sorely underrepresented are teenage superheroes... and, particularly, teenage superhero teams. Since they don't have access to X-Men or Spider-Man, Marvel is likely eyeing their remaining teenage superheroes and none have a longer history than the New Warriors.

The New Warriors were an unsupervised, unsanctioned group of teenagers who took their inspiration from the Avengers. Although coming from different backgrounds and heroic origins, they came together to fight for justice, but often make mistakes along the way. Their most infamous mistake was  joining a reality TV series which led directly to a botched mission, their own deaths, and the deaths of many civilians, including children.

Although the team's roster has changed dramatically over the years, I would stick with fan favorites like Night Thrasher, Namorita, Darkhawk, Firestar, and Speedball along with the popular duo of Cloak and Dagger.

5. Blade

Like Ghost Rider, Blade was recently reacquired by the Marvel parent company, but his original film kicked off the trend of A-list superhero movies way back in 1999.
Rumor has it that Marvel is considering hiring Wesley Snipes to reprise the role. It certainly makes sense. Snipes redefined this character as much as Robert Downey Jr. redefined Iron Man. Why wouldn't they want him back?

And while my dreams of Captain America/Blade: Howl of the Cap-Wolf may have been deterred by Civil War, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if we get a cameo in Doctor Strange. Maybe they could even join Ghost Rider as a new version of the Nightstalkers.

4. Moon Knight

One of the last classic solo characters yet to be featured in film or television, Moon Knight was an attempt by Marvel to create their own Batman in the late seventies, but with a supernatural Egyptian curse as the hook.

Marc Spector was a mercenary who betrayed his own commander when they were raiding the temple of Khonshu, a lunar god of vengeance. Beaten nearly to death, Spector was reborn as Khonshu's avatar.

Fighting injustice at night, Spector dressed in the vestments of Khonshu's warriors, but he became increasingly unstable, adopting multiple identities. It is unclear if he is experiencing utter madness or if he has been possessed by spirits beyond his understanding.

3. Young Avengers

While the New Warriors were inspired by the Avengers, the Young Avengers deliberately attempts to recreate that classic dynamic but in an all new generation of young heroes.

The first incarnation of Young Avengers were formed after the dissolution of the classic Avengers. The team is gathered by Iron Lad (a time-traveler from the future) who recruits Patriot (grandson of the prototype Captain America), Wiccan, Hulkling, a new female Hawkeye, and Stature (the size changing daughter of Ant-Man, Scott Lang). Years later, after the team had disbanded, they are reformed by a child version of Loki along with the new additions of Kree warrior Noh-Varr and other dimensional powerhouse Ms. America Chavez.

The one drawback on this concept is that a lot of these characters have their origins based in events that have not yet happened in the Marvel cinematic universe. Not the least of which is that an adult Loki is currently being played by the extremely popular Tom Hiddleston.

Still, with this many characters to choose from, a clever writer could work around these issues and there are a lot of reasons why they should. This team has a history of unstable leadership and tragedy with a very fun and stylish sensibility. It could offer the best elements of Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Iron Man with the added benefit of youth appeal.

2. Thunderbolts

With all the villains piling up in the Marvel universe and the heroes fighting amongst each other, this would be the perfect time to introduce the Thunderbolts!

Originally, they were the Masters of Evil, villainous counterparts to the Avengers. Yet when the Avengers had seemingly died, they adopted new identities as a superhero team. Yet in playing the role of the hero, many of them began to question their own decisions and even became the heroes they were pretending to be. Led by the disfigured Nazi Baron Zemo disguised as Citizen V, the team included the manipulative psychologist Moonstar, the mechanical genius Techno, the supersuit-flying Mach-5, the size-changing Atlas, and the energy projecting Songbird. After being exposed, the team went fugitive and attempted to redeem themselves, eventually becoming an official government run team designed to give supercriminals the opportunity to reform.

As a film, the Thunderbolts would be an excellent fit if the Avengers were disbanded or disgraced, but the sequel Avengers versus Thunderbolts would be epic.

1. Nova

In some ways, we've already had a preview of this film as Guardians of the Galaxy featured the planet Xandar, home to the Nova Corps.

Led by Nova Prime (Glenn Close), the Nova Corp are the peace-keepers of the universe. The original comic featured Richard Rider while the more recent comics (and Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon) feature Sam Alexander, a younger Hispanic character. In either case, the story is the same: a young man is thrown into the dangerous task of keeping order in the wonderous depths of Marvel universe.

If Guardians of the Galaxy was Marvel's replacement for the Fantastic Four and Inhumans is their replacement for X-Men, Nova would be an excellent choice as a replacement for Spider-Man.

11 Worst Things About X-Men: Days of Future Past

Well, the critics seem to love X-Men: Days of Future Past. Even the most critical of critics I know are praising this film for returning the dignity to the X-Men films. I gotta say, I don't see it. But then, I didn't think that the original films had much dignity to begin with. I'll get into that later...

For now, I'd like to share my personal top eleven worst things about X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Why eleven? Because there were eleven things that bothered me. What, do you think these numbers are arbitrary?

[NOTE: This is, of course, a review of the film and not the comic book story it is loosely based on. There will be plenty of spoilers.]

11. The B-Team and The B-Plot

In the opening of the movie, we see the X-Men battle a group of the future Sentinels (which seem to be based on Nimrod, but they don't call them that). There are three X-Men we recognize from previous films (Kitty, Colossus, and Iceman) and four we don't (Bishop, Blink, Sunspot, and Warpath). As the Sentinels attack, we watch the X-Men fight in unison and it looks pretty good, but eventually, they are overwhelmed and killed... but it doesn't matter because they have a temporal reset button.

Unfortunately, since this is the opening of a time travel movie and set in the far future, we already know that there are no consequences to these actions, so there is no tension. Furthermore, by using so many B-characters that have not been established in this universe, we have little reason to care when they die. In the original comic, it showed the death and desperation of characters we cared about.

The new X-Men lack any distinct personality traits and are used only as props. While Blink provides a visually interesting power which (admittedly) is very well-executed (though derivative to anyone who played Portal), her face paint makes her look like a cosplayer. Bishop's inclusion makes sense (given that he is actually from the future), but why was Sunspot included if they aren't even going to use his powers correctly?

The comic book Sunspot has super-strength. He is called "Sunspot" because his powers are fueled by solar energy. If they wanted someone who shoots fire, why not use the far more recognizable Sunfire? And Warpath is a character with no obvious powers who fights with a knife. With literally hundreds of characters to choose from, I can't image why they went with him.

10. Presidential Embarrassment

When writing historical fiction, it can be tricky to weave your story into actual history. Unless you're Quentin Tarantino, you have to try to maintain some discretion so that you don't make real history collide awkwardly with fantasy thereby creating a noticeable distraction. This film does just that in two major ways.

First, it tells us that Magneto was imprisoned for involvement in the Kennedy assassination. Xavier thinks he killed JFK, but Magneto claims that he saved him, replying that he was "one of us." The idea that a real historical figure is actually a mutant is stupid enough, but especially when applied to a figure as iconic and respected as Kennedy. It would be another thing if it were Houdini or Amelia Earhart or someone with an air of mystery about them, but the only mystery around Kennedy is his death... and that's not exactly something you can play with in a fun way.

Second, the film has a major role for President Richard Nixon who approves the Sentinel and is taken hostage at the end. Nixon is just as iconic as Kennedy (although not nearly as popular) and he has a very distinct appearance/voice that is difficult to accurately replicate. Its hard to take these scenes seriously when you don't see the president, but an actor playing the president.

9. Dwarfism is oddly unremarkable in the 1970s

While I'm happy for Peter Dinklage that he can get a role that has nothing to do with his size, am I the only one who found his casting to be a distraction?

As Bolivar Trask, he is dedicated to the extinction of mutants, but dwarfism itself is a mutation. I might be able to overlook this if the film gave him any motivation to fear this specific type of mutation, but aside from an anecdote about homo sapiens wiping out homo neanderthal, he has none. It is simply the same generalized bigotry we've seen in all of these films. If Trask had a tragic history, perhaps involving Magneto or Mystique, it would have been a lot more believable.

But the real distraction for me was how his dwarfism was never mentioned or even subtly acknowledged. In comparison, I was recently watching Injustice For All, a documentary featuring economist Robert Reich. Just under five foot tall, Reich doesn't have dwarfism, but his size is clearly an issue. He carries a box with him to podiums, he makes jokes about his height, and people are, perhaps, a little nicer to him than they would be to others.

Yet in this film, set forty years in the past, during the height of women's liberation and civil rights movements, there is absolutely no reaction from the white conservative patriarchy to a genius arms dealer who is less than four and a half feet tall? Is anyone going to mention the elephant in the room? I'm not saying it needs to effect the whole film, but just small touches like a look or an amused smirk when he enters the room would acknowledge that he faced some adversity. You could have him notice the exchange and make a point of embarrassing the individual... kind of like he does on Game of Thrones all the time.

8. Speedy Maximoff

I'd like to say I don't get Quicksilver's appeal, but I do. He's an off-the-wall character whose powers allow the filmmakers to do interesting things with timing and camera speed. In fact, the film could probably use more characters like him. Between his slo-mo kitchen fight scene and Blink's portals, we get to see the action play out in a much more visually interesting way than previous X-Men films.

However, he's also one of those characters who is very poorly thought out. His powers are shown constantly and the effect is like using a laser pointer with a cat. When we first see him, he's playing a game of ping-pong with himself. Its a neat little gimmick, but later, he is playing the arcade game Pong and listening to his music on what I presume is a portable 8-track player.

The problem here is that technology (and particularly 1970s technology) does not work at an accelerated pace. We see his Pong arcade game moving faster than our eyes can track and, in the popular kitchen scene, we hear his music at a normal tempo while bullets are flying at a snail's pace. This means that, in order for the sound to be consistent with visuals, his music would have to be playing at roughly 10,000 times the normal speed.

The film's interpretation of the character is like a modern day ADHD child who can't pay attention to one thing for very long. This is a very shallow look at the character and does not reflect his own personal reality. It is a voyeuristic look at his power, not a careful examination of character. This Quicksilver is like Bart Simpson with superspeed. He is a troublemaker who does whatever he wants because he has no impulse control, so he's constantly doing things and getting bored with them. Even this isn't fully thought out as he seems entirely satisfied with this lifestyle.

The comic character is more of an angry cynic known for aggressively confronting both friends and enemies. Peter David famously explained this behavior in an issue of X-Factor by comparing his reality to being stuck behind someone who doesn't know how to use the ATM when you are in a hurry. This helps us to understand that his agitation is based in impatience thereby turning an annoying trait into a sympathetic one.

In the film, Quicksilver briefly mentions that his mother "knew a guy" who had magnetic powers, alluding to the fact that Magneto is his father, but the opportunity to have that mean something is entirely wasted. Their relationship is completely irrelevant to the film, even though he is only there to rescue Magneto. After he performs that task, he is written out of the film, even though he proved himself incredibly useful and has no reason not to join our heroes.

We only see him once more with his twin sister, Wanda, in a brief cameo, but in this universe, she is apparently ten years younger. A strangely arbitrary change.

7. Futurism of Days Past

While X-Men: First Class adhered fairly closely to the technology of their era (Cerebro aside), Days of Future Past seems to have given up on that entirely. The Sentinels just don't make sense in the 1970s and their design looks incredibly out of place. In a time when your most basic computer was the size of a room, can we really forgo logic enough to design humanoid robots with heavy artillery, flight capability, and mutant detection without an ounce of metal?

I understand that it is a comic book movie and you can take some leaps with technology, but when you are telling a story set in the past, you have greater limitations. Compare this to Captain America: The Winter Soldier when they reveal Arnim Zola's consciousness uploaded to dozens of old tape-and-reel computers. Although clearly beyond the capabilities of the time, there is an attempt made to show them using the tools available to them. These Sentinel designs would look great in a modern era X-Men film, but they seem too clean and polished during the heyday of the Chevy Cadillac.

Worst of all, we never really get any good scenes with them. When they are finally revealed at the end, they just seem to provide crowd control as the X-Men face Magneto. Wolverine briefly fights one, but they end up being about as capable and threatening as Stormtroopers.

6. Doesn't connect with The Wolverine

Looking more like Droopy the Dog every year...

Despite the fact that Bryan Singer directed the stinger sequence in The Wolverine, it does not fit with the follow up film which he also directed.

The Wolverine is set in the present day (or the "not too distant future" if you go by the caption in X-Men). As Logan walks through the airport, we see Trask Industries advertizing on the monitors implying that the Sentinel program is just beginning. Yet Days of Future Past features the Sentinel program beginning forty years ago. You might say that Trask Industries has been around all this time, but if so, why weren't they relevant until this moment? Is something about to happen? If so, we never get an explanation

Also, in the previous film, Wolverine's claws are made of bone, not metal, because his metal claws were cut off in the climax of the film. In Days of Future Past, we see a future Wolverine with metal claws. So what happened to give him his metal claws back? Did he go back to Weapon X? Did Magneto do it? You can make something up to explain what happened in the intervening years, but why should you have to when its obviously just laziness? Seeing as Wolverine doesn't even use his claws in the future (except when he accidentally cuts Kitty), there is literally no reason for this arbitrary change. It can't be to "fix" the character, because the resolution of the movie essentially reboots continuity anyway.

I need you, Logan. I'm not the box office draw that you are.

Also, in the end of The Wolverine, we see Logan accompanied by Yukio, who in these films possesses precognition. They leave together suggesting that their adventures are only beginning, yet she isn't even mentioned in Days of Future Past. Since Yukio was not a mutant in the comics, I had assumed that her new abilities in The Wolverine would be used as part of the plot in Days of Future Past. Perhaps Xavier would project Wolverine's consciousness through Yukio's mind which, existing outside of linear time, could send it into the past. Obviously, I was reading too much into it.

So why did Xavier and Magneto to put aside their differences at just this moment, and why did they need Wolverine? The new film does not answer this question because it isn't until years later that the Sentinels destroy the world and they formulate a plan requiring Wolverine. We even see the plan being formed at the beginning of the Days of Future Past, so the stinger scene in The Wolverine had absolutely nothing to do with this film.

5. X-Men: The Missing Film?

About half way into the movie, I started wondering if I somehow missed a film somewhere in this franchise.

Mystique and friends

At the end of X-Men: First Class, Xavier is paralyzed, but rather optimistically looking forward to teaching his X-Men. In Future Past, he is a broken, depressed man who has lost all hope in humanity because most of his students were killed. In First Class, Magneto had just defeated the Hellfire Club and turned it into the Brotherhood of Mutants. He was rallying his troops to fight. In Future Past, he is in prison for attempted assassination, half the Brotherhood is dead, and Mystique has come to hate him for some reason that's never fully explained.

When added to the inconsistency in The Wolverine stinger, it honestly feels like there was a whole other movie that they never made. Maybe the movie was written much longer and they cut out the first half, but honestly, it just feels like a cheap way to dismiss all of the films Bryan Singer didn't make.

4. Days of Matrix/Inception

On a completely aesthetic note, I found the future depicted in Days of Future Past to be boring and derivative. Like the first X-Men film, the influence of The Matrix is shocking blatant. The drop ships house dozens of Sentinels that look like "squiddies" when in flight. The sky appears to have been permanently blotted out by a thick cloud. We get some brief looks at concentration camps, but most of the action takes place in a secluded Buddhist temple that looks like the cheap set it is. It actually plays out a lot like the end of The Matrix when our hero is another space-time while the others must simply wait and protect him against the inevitable robotic onslaught.

In short, we don't really see the future, much less feel what its like. We are simply given exposition that informs us that this is their last stand. It would be much more interesting if they traveled through the war torn environment and through one of the concentration camps. We could see the characters reacting to the plight of others, particularly Magneto who spent his childhood in such a camp, and then, we see their plan go into effect more like a heist than a mutant Alamo.

With the projected consciousness, juxtaposition of relative time, and the hopeless slaughter of our heroes, it really feels like a rip off of the endings to The Matrix and Inception, two of the most popular sci-fi movies of the past two decades.

3. Professor X's magic walking serum

Much of this movie's plot hinges around this cheap plot device used to impede our heroes. Xavier now takes an injection which has two very convenient effects: it enables him to walk (despite having a shattered spine) and it inhibits his telepathic abilities. This allows them to shoot the character without his wheelchair, but also keeps him from having a really easy way to resolve the story.

Again, this is the kind of convenient science that breaks my suspension of disbelief. I know Hank is a genius, but he just happened to develop a drug that can restore someone's ability to walk and inhibits telepathic abilities. This is just way too convenient for the crippled telepath who wants to be rid of his telepathy.

And why does he want to be rid of his telepathy? Well, he's just sick of hearing other people's thoughts. It's too hard. There is no real precedent for this behavior in the character as we know him, but we have to believe it based on events that happened between movies that is provided in exposition (refer back to #5).

2. Kitty Pryde's unexplained power

Kitty Pryde possess the mutant ability to move through solid objects. Its called phasing. She can also phase other objects, if she is in physical contact with them. This is established in all three of the original movies and is completely consistent with the comic book character. In Days of Future Past, not only does she have that ability, but she can project someone's consciousness back in time.

It is never explained how she has this ability. She has never had this ability in the comics. There are many characters with psychic or time travel powers that would make more sense, or they could have come up with an original character. Yet, for reasons I cannot fathom, this very critical element to the plot is completely and totally unaddressed.

This is the equivalent of Superman turning back time by spinning around the world. Even at its most basic, her power has absolutely no applications that might remotely connect to projecting consciousness through time.

1. Magneto reprograms Sentinels

Near the end of the film, we see Magneto fly behind a truck carrying Sentinels. We've been told that the Sentinels are entirely made of plastic, and therefore immune to his powers. Magneto pulls a few feet of railroad from the track, strips it for wire, then proceeds to intertwine this wire into the Sentinels thereby demonstrating that they are under Magneto's control.

Now, these films have shown Magneto doing a lot of stupid things with his powers, like lifting the Golden Gate Bridge to use as a method of transporting a small group of people... or slowly pushing a bullet into a guy that doesn't have the sense (or laws of motion) to get out of the way. But we are supposed to believe that he can reprogram advanced robots by just looking at them and weaving metal into their parts?

Is it supposed to be like a puppet, where Magneto is actually exerting his force over their own? If so, they don't move or act with the sort of stilted hesitation you would expect. It seems more like Magneto somehow actually rewrote their software to follow his commands. And he did that with wire? Just by looking at them? He doesn't need to know programming or a keyboard to input new commands. He just sticks his hands up their asses and they perform for him.

Its almost as bad as when he designed a machine to turn humans into mutants, but it can only run on his own power and it would kill him. Just because its a comic movie is no reason to be blatantly stupid.

Top 5 Things I Like and Top 4 Things I Hate About X-Men: First Class

So X-Men: First Class is finally coming out. It feels like it was just yesterday that I was watching this film come together. Conversely, it seems like an eternity that I've been dreading it.

In all honesty, I'm conflicted. It's almost as if it were worse, it would be better, but because it has the potential to be really good, all I'm going to see is wasted potential. At least with the Catwoman movie (one of the few comic movies I haven't seen), you could tell just by seeing her in the costume that it would suck.

Now, none of my friends are X-Men fans like I am, so they are very excited by the trailers, which in all fairness are excellent, but I'm still not sold and I have good reasons for this. So without further ado, these are the top five things I like and the top four things I loath before ever having seen the film.

LIKE:

Set in the sixties

I think the idea of setting a comic movie as a period piece is an awesome idea, particularly if that period is the same period when the characters debuted. X-Men #1 came out in September 1963. If the film starts at that precise time, I'll get a giddy little thrill out of it (based on this image, I guess not... but so close!). More than that, I hope it references to the context of the time more than the actual comics ever did. The comics were written by old men who were writing fairly conservatively because of the comics code and aiming at a prepubescent audience, so it never really explored the Vietnam War, civil rights, or the hippy movement in the way this movie could. Hopefully they'll do this effectively and not just with a few forced jokes that fall flat.

Blackbird

As a fan, I'm glad they have the Blackbird and I'm glad that it looks just the way it does in the comics. I guess they had this in the previous movies, so it shouldn't come as any surprise, but it would be easy for them to throw on another fin, give it a paint job, add bright neon lights and other things to make a more marketable toy. Thank god this isn't being directed by George Lucas...

Xavier & Magneto together

One of the most compelling things about the X-Men is the relationship between Xavier and Magneto. They are both larger than life, heroic men passionately dedicated to the future and protecting those, like themselves, who have been unfairly discriminated against. Yet while Xavier favors education, patience, and tolerance, Magneto favors decisive action, demanding change... The thing is that neither of them are wrong. In fact, I have a close friend who could very well be the Magneto to my Xavier, if we were in similar circumstance. I'm glad that the movie will be exploring this, although based on the previews I've seen, I expect to be disappointed. More on that later...

The Hellfire Club

The X-Men universe is one of the most expansive franchises of all time, right up there with Star Wars and Star Trek. So far, the movies have done a poor job reflecting this, but in this film, they are introducing The Hellfire Club. This organization gets their name from a true historical society dating back to the foundation of our country and an earlier with history in England, Ireland, and the United States. They are just another society for rich hedonists where they scoff at conventional morality (or in fact, any morality) with quasi-satanic rituals and self-indulgence. They are pretty much the same in the comics, but they also plot to expand their power, often by inviting or coercing mutants. Where Xavier and Magneto represent two sides of a moral dilemma, the Hellfire Club represent complete selfishness and social Darwinism. I'm curious to see where they take that...

Beast

It's also nice that my favorite X-Man will be in this film, played by a young person rather than the stuffy Kelsey Grammar. They are including the pre-fur version of the Beast with his creepy hand-feet and that's just wonderful. Unfortunately, they are also including his transformation into the furry version of the character... which seems like they might be trying to do too much. I'm also not convinced they got the character right, as the Beast I came to know and love is much more jovial and exuberant.

HATE:

The rest of the X-Men cast

When I heard that they were doing X-Men: First Class, I got excited that this might be a somewhat faithful interpretation of the original X-Men, since that is what the comic, X-Men: First Class, was about. This would mean seeing Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Beast, and Angel. When I found out that Magneto would be working with Xavier, I had hopes that his children, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, would be involved. Instead, we get the most hodge-podge lineup of second and third stringers I have ever seen.


Aside from Beast, we have a young Mystique, Banshee, Havok, Darwin, and Angel (who is not the classic Angel, but a new version of the character who barely was in the comics). Since this is most definitely a prequel to the previous movies, I will guess that Havok has been recast as Cyclops' father rather than his brother. While these are all characters from the comics, two of them are incredibly new and not even remotely popular while the others are... again, second string. Will Banshee join Magneto? Do I care?

Azazel

Speaking of unpopular characters who were forced into this film, let's talk about Azazel. Azazel appeared in the seven issue storyarc called The Draco and he has not appeared again since. This story was written by the "winner" of my worst X-Men writer ever award and he won largely based on this particular story. In the comics, it has long been established that Nightcrawler's mother is Mystique. Although ignored in X2, this will likely be established in X-Men: First Class. Originally, Mystique had sex with a random German lord and when she gave birth to a deformed mutant baby, she had to flee and abandon the boy to be raised by gypsies. In "The Draco," Nightcrawler meets his real father, Azazel, a demonic mutant who has lived since biblical times and is confused with the actual devil because he acts like it. The story was so despised that no one has ever mentioned it again... until this movie.

Professor X has hair

In the comic books, Professor Xavier's hair started falling out at puberty when his powers developed as though the power of his mind was killing his hair follicles. I always liked this idea because it reinforced that mutants aren't just gifted with powers, they often come at the cost of being a social outcast. Sure, early male pattern baldness doesn't seem that traumatic nowadays with kids shaving their heads intentionally, but for a twelve year old in a New England boarding school in the 1940s or 1950s, it would be hell. It seems like a small thing, but I'm mystified that they would change it and I'd really like to know why. Did Professor Xavier have to look younger? Did he have to look sexier? I don't understand...

Magneto still seems too one-sided

Although this is supposed to be a movie about seeing the relationship between Xavier and Magneto develop and fall apart, I can't help but feel that what we are going to get is... well, you remember the Star Wars prequels? You remember how they kept having moments when you would see Anakin act whiny or selfish or angry and it was supposed to be like a flash of evil... like a glimpse into his destiny as Darth Vader? It set this tone that Anakin could have been good, but he had evil DNA.

Hollywood, I know you want me to subscribe to this idea of absolute good and evil... but I have a brain. I think about things. I also have compassion and I'm open-minded enough to realize that when someone disagrees with me... they probably aren't evil, but they look at things in a different way. For example, I see homosexuality as diversity which enriches our lives while others see it as a weakness and a perversion of the natural order of things. I'm not right and they aren't wrong; it is just a different viewpoint. These viewpoints are somewhat incompatible and cause us to fight in a public forum over specific issues like gay marriage and why it should or should not be recognized.

Magneto shouldn't be evil. He isn't Doctor Doom or Lex Luthor or the Joker. He's a divisive figure representing an extreme and frightening ideology, but he isn't wrong. The tragedy of Magneto is that his vision is incompatible with Xavier's. They are both men of conscience and conviction who passionately care about making the world a better place, but they disagree about how to do that and it is their methods, not their goals, which are ultimately incompatible. It is the age old battle between idealistic pacifism and pragmatic militarism... and the line between them is razor thin. The tragedy is that they are so close to being friends and allies, but just different enough to be mortal enemies. If you paint Magneto as a stock villain, you will lose all of that tension... as they did in the previous X-Men films.

Back to Back to the Future

Why is everyone suddenly crazy over Back to the Future?

I don't understand why I'm suddenly seeing Back to the Future everywhere I go. I understand its the 25th anniversary and people love Michael J. Fox because he has Parkinson's. (Let's face it, his popularity has risen dramatically since we found out. I still loved him before.) But, if anything, I would have expected the 30th anniversary to be the big comeback since Marty traveled 30 years into the future in Back to the Future II...

But Playboy is doing a Back to the Future parody? Does that mean Marty and Doc are going to fuck?

My brain hurts.

I am excited about the new Telltale Games Back to the Future video game. It should be an old style adventure in animated style... and I like the old schoool.

I bet someone is trying to figure out how to do a new Back to the Future franchise. Will it be a remake where Marty goes back to meet his parents in 1985? Will it be a sequel where Marty's son finds his dad's time machine? Will Christopher Lloyd still play Doc?

Zack Snyder is directing the Superman movie

So Zack Snyder is directing the Superman movie...

He previously brought us 300 and Watchmen...

*sigh*

So he did two comic book movies and he is qualified to do another one? Is that how it works?

You couldn't have found someone who, I don't know, has storytelling qualities which will best exemplify the tone and major themes of Superman?

LOL!

Now I'm acting like comic books have literary themes. How stupid of me...

UPDATED:

Everyone is writing their guidelines to making a good Superman film. Pretty much everyone agrees they need a new villain, someone for Superman to punch repeatedly, but rumor has it, they are just going to do Zod again (ho-hum).

Anyway, I threw my 2-cents in years ago... and here are the links if you haven't read them.

Saving The Franchise: Superman - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Casting The Ultimate Superman Movies

Runaways - Marvel press release

This amused me today:

RUNAWAYS

After Racebending became concerned and Asian-American character Nico Minoru in the film might get white-washed with a non-Asian actor in the part, Marvel responded to them with a statement. "To address your concern over casting for the role of Nico, as we do with all of our films, we intend to stay true to the legacy and story of the comic when casting these parts [except for Nick Fury]. Thus, our goal is to cast an Asian American actress as depicted in the comic series and the casting notice will be adjusted accordingly," wrote the studio. The casting sheet available to agents now lists the character as Asian-American. The team at Racebending went on to explain why that detail is important in the casting sheet. "When Racebending.com spoke with people working in the entertainment industry about the breakdown, they also confirmed that without the keywords 'Asian' or 'Asian American,' actors of Asian descent would face barriers in accessing the role. Including the keywords would mitigate systemic discriminatory factors prevalent in Hollywood," they wrote.

Oh yes. Marvel Studios is daring enough to have an Asian woman as a lead character. Oh what amazing times we live in. Next we'll find out that they are daring enough to have a lesbian scene with her.

For the record, if the movie is The Last Airbender, the Asian kid needs to be white because he's the male lead, but a female Asian lead is different... because Asian girls are hot.

Enjoy post-racial America everyone!

X-Men: No Class

OH DEAR GOD, JUST CANCEL IT ALREADY! PLEASE! DEAR GOD, PLEASE!

Producer Bryan Singer laid down some details about the film for Ain't It Cool News. "The film takes place in the 1960's. John F Kennedy is the President of the United States. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X are on TV doing marches. There is a spirit of a hopeful future that was prevalent in that time. We will see how Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr met - and how they dreamt of a future with Mutant & Human kind. They're going to be in their late twenties. Xavier - as played by James McAvoy will not be in his wheelchair to begin the film - but we will see how he wound up in a wheelchair. I asked if McAvoy would have a nice shiny chrome dome - and folks. We're going to see Professor X when he still had hair. We'll see McAvoy and Fassbender's Magneto formulate what it is they are attempting by creating the X-MEN," writes AICN's Harry Knowles, who had a chat with the director. "Now Bryan wanted us to know this is not the conventional FIRST CLASS comic - but rather a new beginning for X-MEN. Set in the 60s - Vaughn is technologically inspired by JAMES BOND's tech of the time. The costumes will be far more comic bookish than we've seen before."

New Old Trailer for Avengers Movie

Sucker Punch

Alright, this will probably suck, but the trailer is awesome.

Deadpool movie

So the rumor that hit the web today is that Robert Rodriguez has been offered the chance to direct the Deadpool movie.

I'm not a big fan of Rodriguez. To me, his action is really over the top... so much so that it loses the emotional intensity as it becomes more of a farce.

That said, I am a fan of Deadpool and I am really hoping this happens because those same qualities that I dislike about Rodriquez would work perfectly in a Deadpool film.

The trick will be conveying humor, particularly if Deadpool is faceless. In the comics, his face is hideously scarred, which is why he never takes off the mask. His character's flavor comes from the fact that his insanity is a mixture of genuine humor and genuine horror. He is a psychopath, but he is funny.

I have no strong feelings about Ryan Reynolds, who played the role in the Wolverine film, so if he doesn't reprise the role, it is no big deal. Personally, I'd like to see the role go to a comedian. My pick is Dane Cook.

I don't know if my audience hates Dane Cook or not, but I think he gets a lot of undeserved flack because (A) he is cocky and (B) he is popular with a dumb crowd. I don't think either of these are particularly good reasons. But I think the intensity, physical build, and the emotion in his voice would perfectly suit Marvel's "merc with a mouth."

Then there are a few other things to think about, like who would write it? Tough to say. I'd love to see Joss Whedon write a script, but I could say that about any superhero. Whoever writes it, I hope they pass the script to Joss Whedon and Kevin Smith to add one-liners. Smith could probably write a brilliant Deadpool script, but I don't think he has the balls to commit to it.

What about the plot? There aren't any legendary Deadpool plots upon which to base a story. It would probably loosely follow Joe Kelly's run where he lives with a cranky old blind woman named Al who is his hostage and a computer geek named Weasel as his backup/weapons designer.

But every Hollywood movie needs a villain and a love interest... For the love interest, I would go with the shapeshifter, Copycat. One of my favorite things about their relationship in the comics is that Deadpool would have her shapeshift into superheroines in order to live out his depraved fantasies.

For villain... I don't know. You might want to go with an old Wolverine villain like Omega Red. I doubt they are going to do a movie about him and you could say he was a Russian super-soldier who went into the mafia after the fall of the Soviet Union. Tie it into Weapon X somehow. Maybe there is some sort of... competition between these super-soldier assassins and they are all out to kill one another. That could be fun. A lot of cameos, colorful characters, and little explanation necessary.

Just food for thought.

Great Artists Have Trouble Selling Out

Mark Millar has a new comic coming out that has almost certainly already been optioned as a movie. I can't remember the name of it.

I used to love Mark Millar. I first came to his work when he replaced Warren Ellis on The Authority and I actually thought he had surpassed Ellis. I followed him onto Ultimate X-Men where he had an awkward, but creative run. However, his best work was probably The Ultimates. Even so, I followed his smaller creative owned work like Chosen, which was an... ironic but genuine telling of the second coming of Christ. (I'm being intentionally vague. Its one of those stories like The Sixth Sense that is ruined if you know what it is really about.)

He also did another comic at the same time called Wanted. It was an incredibly graphic and brutal depiction of a man joining a league of supervillains who have been running the world secretly for years. I never saw the movie because when I found out they were a guild of assassins rather than supervillains... well, to me the "cool factor" just plummeted.

Nowadays, Mark Millar is releasing creator-owned comics as fast as possible and marketing them even faster. The movie Kick-Ass was in production before the first comic was released. In order to keep his profile high and continue his working relationship with Marvel (who have extensive ties to Hollywood), Millar has continued to write stories within the Marvel universe, but they are increasingly shallow.

If you haven't read my review of Marvel's Civil War, check it out, but in a nutshell, Millar wrote a major Marvel crossover based on real life political issues then totally chickened out by stacking the deck and having an ending that didn't resolve anything. His recent Ultimate Avengers started with an introduction of the Red Skull as Steve Roger's illegitimate terrorist son... which to me signals that he no longer wants to expose themes that have worked for decades and instead wants to indulge his own ego. That's a perfectly fine choice for a writer, but he lost me as a fan in the process.

It made me think of some of my favorite comic artists and how difficult it is for them to sell out... like Grant Morrison or Sam Keith or Alan Moore or Terry Moore. Of those, only Alan Moore has had his comics adapted to film and this was done without his approval or consent.

But my very favorite artists write specifically for the medium they are in. By that, I don't just mean that they write dialog, characters, and a story that use the strengths of sequential storytelling (and they do), but more than that, the material is geared to a particular audience that is both child-like and mature. Comic fans indulge in fantasy escapism, but we also become accustomed to incredibly complex and meaningful symbolism. The more comics engage us on this level, the more complex future comics are libel to become. It is the inflation of expectations.

Now, I don't particularly want these artists to sell out. I just want them to be well compensated for work that I think is more deserving than whatever masturbatory adolescent fantasy Mark Millar has managed to crank out this month. I mean, I can't imagine any Sam Keith comic that would adapt well into a live action film, although I would love to see some short animated films based on his work.

Maybe that's the problem. Maybe the mainstream hasn't caught up to the maturity of comics. They think animation is for children despite brilliant adult works works such as AKIRA, Fantasia, or The Triplets of Belleville. They also think big expensive blockbusters work best when they are geared toward a teenage audience that they treat with contempt.

I'd love to see a live action Invisibles movie (preferably set in the '90s because I think the fashion was period specific), but I honestly think the biggest impediment to that is Lord Fanny, the transsexual shaman. Hollywood can't include that character without the risk of alienating teenage males who are insecure about their sexuality... and they can't exclude her without alienating fans of the comic. It's a form of discrimination normalized by corporate greed.

Like I suggested in my previous post, I think TV is a better place for comics because they aren't trying to put everything in a two-hour "sink or swim" film. They are trying to keep people watching and encourage more people to watch, so the material is richer and more organic.

How about a Strangers in Paradise HBO series? I would pirate that in a heart-beat.

Its hard for a real artist to sell out. There are reasons why many of the best artists died poor. They had true talent. The kind of talent that cannot be easily marketed or reproduced in other media.

Can't stop talking about X-Men: First Class

James McAvoy is Charles Xavier.

*sigh*

I heard that they were going to do a young Xavier and Magneto, but this is ridiculous.

Why can't you just adapt the fucking comic book?!

Why can't Patrick Stewart just play a forty year old Xavier instead of a fifty year old Xavier? Is he an expensive actor? I haven't seen him in many films other than Star Trek and X-Men.

What, does he have to be sexy? Do you need the girls in the audience to want to fuck Xavier?

WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!

Please, please, please tell me that this is just for a five minute flashback scene.

Marvel/DC Continuity Song

WTF! X-Men: First Class update

Okay... so Jane Goldman is writing the new X-Men: First Class script. Whether its with those other people I mentioned or a completely new script, I don't know.

But FUCK is she hot!

She's a writer? Are you fucking kidding me?

I am currently cumming my brain into my underwear.

IT SHOULDN'T BE LEGAL TO BE THAT HOT!

So now I'm jealous of her and her husband in more ways than I can stand to think about.

Someone needs to medicate me.

SPOILER ALERT: Iron Man 2 review

In case the title didn't make it clear, this is NOT a spoiler-free review so if that concerns you, come back after you've seen the movie.

Are we good? Okay.

So I just saw Iron Man 2. I've been reading the original Iron Man comics and watching several superhero movies (especially Marvel) to get a sense of the Iron Man character and how the superhero genre translates into film.

It seems to me that the superhero genre is all about the beginning, not the end. The origin (or "premise") sets the character's defining elements and then the creators find as many different ways of looking at that premise as possible. However, unlike a traditional self-contained story, the superhero story isn't going anywhere. That is to say, unlike Luke Skywalker who had a character arc where he develops into a Jedi and defeats the empire, superhero stories don't have a natural place for the story to end. Due to the way they are marketed, it actually becomes important that the story has no end. This is the difference between a serial story and a contained story.

All of this is to say that the first movie in a franchise is most likely to be the best. The story focuses on the most crucial character development, going from a guy to a hero. This was the storyarc of the first film as we saw the arrogant and self-absorbed Tony Stark abducted by terrorists. From this experience, he questions his life and changes his ways.

In Iron Man 2, Tony is still arrogant and flighty and irresponsible. Granted, that's how we like him, but his self-destructive streak goes to far and he just becomes obnoxious for the majority of the film. This culminates in Tony's birthday party where he is unbelievably drunk and hanging out in his armor to impress his shallow "friends." Pepper and Rhodie arrive and are apparently the only ones concerned for him. Pepper tries to talk him into ending the party, but fails so Rhodie puts on a Iron Man suit and solves things with a fist fight.

When this scene started, it was hard for me to tell who was being stupider - Stark or Rhodes. At least Stark was drunk and just showing off. Rhodie was stone-cold sober and intending to get in a fight with a high tech battle suit... at a busy party... with a drunk guy in another battle suit. It was just dumb and macho.

Hmmm... what else... Black Widow was kind of disappointing. She didn't even have a Russian accent! Half the fun of having a Russian spy is the accent! I understand she was undercover as an American, but I expected her to slip into Chekov-speak after her cover was blown. I was also hoping for some sort of connection between her and Whiplash. I think that would have helped her motivation. I also wanted to see her versus Iron Man. I would have liked to see at least one fight before she helped the good guys. She did start off as a villain, after all.

Speaking of which, "robot battle suits versus robot battle suits" is getting a little old already. I know it is only the second movie, but it is getting a little familiar. I liked that Whiplash didn't have armor, but then at the end, he has armor so...

But the "Wha- huh?" moment of the film was the end where Tony Stark finally wants to be in the Avengers Initiative when Nick Fury rejects him by saying, "Iron Man is approved, but Tony Stark isn't."

So... are you saying Robert Downey Jr. won't be in the Avengers? Will Don Cheadle be in the Iron Man armor? Is it a contract negotiation thing and you are trying to save on budget? Or is this some sort of tease?

Well, if Robert Downey Jr. isn't going to be in the Avengers, I'm pretty disappointed on a few levels. Mostly, when I think about an Avengers movie, it isn't that I want to see all the superpowers together, I want to see the characters together. If this movie is about Steve Rogers and Thor meeting... Col. James Rhodes, it won't be nearly as much fun. Steve Rogers is an old-fashioned guy from a more classical time. Thor even more so. They contrast well with Stark who is so uniquely contemporary and possessing dubious morality.

All of that aside, I enjoyed the film, but I agree with all of the reviews I've seen that say it doesn't hold up to the original. The action is pretty uneven with a lot of mediocre and kind of tedious character stuff at the beginning and most of the fighting happening in the last half-hour. There is a completely gratuitous cameo appearance by Captain America's shield that is played as a cheap joke which will only get cheaper with time. And if you stay after the credits, you will get to see Thor's hammer, Mjolnir.

Getting to my point in a round about way, the second movie is always going to be harder than the first, and if I can tolerate some godawful comic books, I can tolerate a somewhat uneven action film. I just hope the next one offers something a bit new. Mandarin might be a hard villain to make work (because he uses magic and is little more than a racist stereotype), but Iron Monger and Whiplash aren't exactly A-list villains. I would say that the next Iron Man movie needs a bit more to it in order to keep this franchise alive.