Thor, the dark world and the lousy story

One of the films regarded as the worst of the MCU and rightly so, it's pretty damn bad, for everyone, but Loki, although we do get a bit more of Thor's friends in Asgard like Sif and the Warriors Three.

The writers could have found a better way to address Thor's love and the transfer of the reality "stone".

Kenneth Branagh should have been left in charge of the world of Thor, he just understands the classics.

This film just feels uncomfortable from moment one to the end.  The over use of humor is really obvious and just makes it worse.  There is no real focus to the film at all, it's just handling a few points to move them on for the rest of the MCU.

Then there is the subtitling for the elves speech is just annoying for this kind of film, it's not a historical epic, it's a super hero film.  I'm guessing that Branagh left because he wanted to bring the script back to something more sane.

With a weak villain and a very weak script, the forced humor only adds to how bad it all is, and Marvel would foolishly up the "humor" in Thor's other adventures, taking away from the core of the character.

One of the better parts of the film, is the connection between Thor's mother Frigga, and Jane Foster, we should have gotten more of them together, but she gives her life to protect Foster.  Killing off Frigga was a huge mistake for all of it, especially for such and insanely weak story.  The short interactions between Russo and Hopkins were very good.  "It's only because I worry over you, that you have survived this long." great stuff.

Thor enlists the aid of his half-brother Loki to help him against the dark elves and Loki sacrifices himself in the battle (or so we think), and in the end Thor tells his father of Loki's sacrifice, only for us to find out that Loki is alive and has replaced Odin.  If this story had been told from the perspective of Loki, it would have been far better.

I consider, Howard The Duck, to be of greater value to the overall Marvel Universe than I do this sad film, Iron Man 3 might have been bad, but it's still worlds above this one.  Sad that I had to review two of the worst in a row, but that's how Marvel set the timeline. 

Next up : SHIELD and the Winter Soldier ... yes, you read that correctly... 

 

Spider Man and his Amazing Friends

When we last left Spider Man, he was swinging off to reboot his life, with a new home made costume and return to a more classic, Friendly Neighborhood Spider Man.

This opens up the opportunity for something fans have wanted for quite a while, but it's only now, with the merger of companies that it's finally possible.

The post credit scene I wanted for this Spider Man was meeting two fellow young people, Bobby Drake & Angelica Jones with her little friend Miss Lion, just into the world, but also with special abilities, and a team up seems like just what they'd all need for their next journey in life, Spider Man and his Amazing Friends.

Spidey is looking for a new beginning, about to start college and looking for some new friends, it only seems appropriate as many other parts of the MCU reset after the events of Endgame and the world has forgotten Peter Parker, it's a great new start all around for him.

This  is also a perfect way to introduce mutants into the MCU, explaining that they've been around for a long time.  No need for some dramatic and possibly ridiculous storyline to force them suddenly into this universe.  Let it just be that they have been a closely guarded secret.  This can also help explain he line Nick Fury had in the Avengers, "the world is filling up with people who just can't be matched." and part of that, could be the X-Men and other mutants.  At some point, when they meet, Professor Xavier should thank Peter for his "great sacrifice", without going into any explanation for the statement.

It would seem that several of the Spider Man villains of old won't be part of this Spideyverse, Doctor Octopus probably won't pop up, and Norman Osbourne said, "someone's living in my house and there is on OsCorp", seems doubtful that Sandman will be here again either.  That still leaves a great host of awesome villains like Hobgoblin and Kraven can come along.  We've already seen Vulture, King Pin and Shocker (who was a great villain in the comics) plus we don't necessarily know that Mysterio is dead, he could always come back.

To me, the characters Morbius and Venom are too dark for this version of the Spiderverse, they would be much better suited to the Andrew Garfield universe, even though they are trying to set them up for this universe, it just doesn't fit.

Spider Man & His Amazing Friends is a much smarter and lucrative way to go for Feige and the Disney/Sony version of the Spider Man storyline.

I know this is absolutely insane, three Spider-verses going on at once, but it could be a success storm for Marvel, Disney and Sony if they can pull it off, and I believe they can.  We've seen other film franchises ruined by taking a brighter world and forcing it into dark places, and vice-versa, so why not let them each have their own?  There are multiple publishings of Spider Man in comic form, why not in films?

THIS is the next daring step that Kevin Feige needs to take for Spider Man.

Spider Friends.... GO FOR IT!!!

 

Iron Man 3 - One for the Junk Pile

Arguably the worst of the MCU films, Iron Man 3 (although I find it more watchable than, Spider Man Far From Home) left a lot to be desired, and as we got the "twist" in the film, it wasn't a thrill, it was a direct shot to the unarmored iron balls.

When it was announced that Ben Kingsley had been cast and it appeared that he was playing the Mandarin, I was thrilled, this is one of the greatest actors of the last century.  Then I saw the movie and felt like chucking my large Sprite at the screen.

For the longest time, the Mandarin has been one of Stark's greatest enemies, now it seemed that they were dialing it up to 11 by making him a terrorist leader as well as everything else he's supposed to be, but just another angry CEO... didn't we do that with Obie and Hammer?  This was the opportunity of a real hardcore Ironman villain, and Marvel failed big time.

The one good thing I'll say about the film is that it was still a lot of the nuts & bolts Ironman and not that nanotech nonsense they would later use to screw up the character more.

It started off great, the video threats from the supposed Mandarin, matching up with a lot of the way terrorists like to operate, it was a change for him, but it was okay, kinda matched up with reality a bit more, I could live with that.  Using human bombs that could go off and walk away, VERY COOL, could leave those investigating it fooled for who knows how long, no evidence.  

Stark meets this really cool kid in Tennessee, a kid with some of the same talents as Stark, nice appeal to younger audiences but not to over-cutsie as Disney products tend to overdue it, it was working so far.

This could have let up to an even better Shang-Chi if the real 10 Rings had been in play, like the Mandarin used in the comic.  At Mandarins defeat the rings could have gone to Shang-Chi's father, and we could have seen that unfold in their film.

But the moment we learned that the Kingsley character not only wasn't the Mandarin but just an actor, the film died, right then, it was over and not worth another kernal of popcorn, and it was such a bad choice it took credibility from the entire MCU.  If they were willing to make a decision this bad on an Iron Man movie, what else might they severely screw up?!?

I'm not a fan of Guy Pearce anyway, I'm not impressed with his acting and can't understand how anyone is, he comes off as slimey from the first second, even when he's not trying to.

Let's hope that Shane Black just goes away and doesn't return to the MCU anytime ... at all, the writing was terrible and the direction was abysmal.  Let him go make B-level action flicks with Z-list actors where he belongs.

In the end, this was just a really bad addition to the MCU and probably shouldn't have been done if they weren't going to do it right.

Overall this film gets half a star, but for a single film, it gets none, it was just a mistake, plain and simple.

This film will forever be in the ranks of Indiana Jones 4 and the Star Wars sequels of, WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING!?!

 

MRM: The band is finally together, The Avengers

The buildup of the MCU Phase 1 came to a head in this groundbreaking film, that brought these heroes together to fight against the invading army of ... Loki, well sort of.

In the very first scene we learn that the villain isn't really the main villain, just someone doing his bidding.

Nick Fury shows up at SHIELD HQ to find the teseract has been "misbehaving" as we're reintroduced to Dr Selvig (from Thor) and Hawkeye  who points out that the teseract is a door and that doors open from both directions, which it quickly does, and Loki starts blowing things up, as well as taking Selvig and Hawkeye as his "personal flying monkeys"... no worries, Cap gets the reference.... or does later... 

One of the more important scenes that a lot of people might overlook is when Nick is speaking to the "shodowy committee" and we see that they are just bureaucrats and don't really get what should/needs to be done, but still people in a position of power that can cause problems.

The recruitment scenes are good, get the job done, but (other than Nat & Banner) really don't have a lot of emotion.  Bringing Cap & Banner onto the Carrier is good stuff, seeing Cap have to pay off his $10 bet with Fury is great bit between "old soldiers".

Thor is drawn in just in his search for Loki, but they make up for that in an really well written scene between Thor and Coulson on the Helicarrier.  Helmsworth should have been on an episode or two of, Agents of SHIELD, maybe a two parter with he and Coulson working, just the two of them, good matchup of characters.

Arguably the best scene in the film is the confrontation scene in the Helicarriers lab, when Loki's influence is affecting all of them, and stirring the pot.

"The world is filling up with people who can't be matched." is one of the phrases that Nick uses to justify more movies about hero's that are already there before The Avengers.  Who else is Nick talking about?  This is probably the biggest hole that they never really address.

This is also when we get that great scene between Cap & Stark when Cap challenges, "Big man in a suit of armor, take that off, what are you?"  But also in that scene, Stark shows his latent hate for Cap by calling him "you're a laboratory experiment Rogers, everything special about you came out of a bottle." which anyone knows, that's really the least of Cap, but they put it in to pump up the Star character and tone down Cap.  The scene didn't achieve what it should but did some of what they wanted, even if it was bad for the story.

The scene is interrupted by Hawkeye's attack on the Helicarrier.  Banner and Romanov fall to a lower level where Banner does his "party trick" and the Hulk is loose on the carrier, just as Loki wanted.  The ensuing battle on board splits the team up with Hulk and Thor knocked off but Hawkeye is brought back with a little smack to the coconut.

This also leads to the tragic loss of Agent Phil Coulson (yeah, I know 😉) as Loki stabs him in the back.  Fury uses the incident to motivate the team, and while in deep thought over what happened, Stark gets a revelation... "son of a b*tch", and he knows where Loki is heading.

Another great scene is the dialogue between Loki & Stark, sorry Tony, the threatening... it's a scene where we see Stark playing with Loki's emotions about Thor and then a final line about Coulson.  But in here we also get to see the real Iron Man, the nuts & bolts Iron Man instead of that nanotech nonsense.

The battle in New York is outrageous and a great climax for this phase of the MCU, but we see another issue when Cap lands on a police car and tells some police what he needs, the officer looks at him and says, "why should I take orders from you?".... IT'S CAPTAIN FREAKIN' AMERICA... so we have to see him smash some aliens for one minor laugh in the script, not a cool thing.

During the battle, here comes the shadowy committee again, bureaucrats making fool decisions for a fight they aren't part of and don't get, and Nick trying to tell them how foolish they are.  We see them again at the end of the film, where Nick pretty much brushes them off, too bad he couldn't do that earlier.  We get hints at this committee but overall in the MCU, they really never make a difference either way from here out.  One has to wonder, how many were on our side and how many were Hydra.  Looking back now, that committee seems like it was pretty useless in the MCU.

An end credit scene finally shows us Thanos, which was pretty cool but it was a bit obvious to begin with, studios let too much slip out before films are released, or many put the whole story into their trailers, not great filmmaking. 

In the end, Nick's plan worked, but was it by design or did he get lucky with the Avengers?  Did they get along because they could or because they had to?  We see some of that answer in a great, and simple, post credit scene of the crew having schwarma (I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it).

The film gets 🌟🌟🌟 and a half stars out of five, it was great to see the team together, the fight is good, but overall the film doesn't hit as hard as it could have.

 

MRM : The Incredible Hulk - The MCU’s split personality

Next up is the one part of Phase 1 that really kinda feels out of place, in more ways than one.

First of all, it's not the Bruce we know now, it's a different guy, Edward Norton is playing Banner in this one and the Hulk is full CGI with none of Norton in the characters face.

One of the things that follows and haunts this film are all the stories of how difficult Norton was to work with on set, it's stuck to this film and that's not good press for the MCU.

The one thing I will give them is all the Hulk history they toss in, Ferigno (who also voices The Hulk in this film) and Bixby appear in the film and we even get some bars of, The Lonely Man song from the original series, all of that is awesome and appreciated.  Although, as Bruce left the computer lab, I'd have had Ferigno say, "hope you found what you're looking for, Dr Banner."  And Bruce just smile at him with a nod of thanks.  The film had really good 2nd string and even 3rd string characters, they should have done just a bit more with it.  Stanley and his pizza place was awesome.

Doctor Bruce Banner is still on the run from General Thunderbolt Ross (and his yet unnamed, Hulkbuster squad), and currently hiding out in South America working at a soda pop factory.  Ross sends in his stealth-like troops (like bulls in a china shop) and the Hulk erupts once more.  After recovering, Banner somehow makes it from Central America to Virginia in less than 30 days with no money and no transportation, that seems a bit of a stretch, I'd have made it 60 days, roughly.

One of the parts of this that is out of place is the conversation between Ross and Blonski, when they talk about the bio-enhancement division of WWII, the Super Soldier program and Ross tries to really downplay and makes sure not to mention Steve Rogers or Cap, that was off.

Ross decides to ramp Bronski up with what's left of some form of the super soldier serum, they never explain what it is and where it came from.  If they had this, what where they working on?  Seriously.

Bruce's reunion with Betty Ross is good, the chemistry between the two is good, they play up the tension well, scientists afraid to let "the thing" loose.  But Betty's new beau calls the government over Banner, they never said why or played into the reasons around it, was he a plant?  Designed to get near Betty?  Lots of holes around this part.  The character is credited as Doc Samson but I can't see this guy becoming the Marvel hero of the same name at all, Ty Burrell is a good actor, but poor job in this, but I'd like to see Doc Samson in a future film or part of the upcoming She-Hulk series.

The campus battle is a good one, excellent action, as well as college reporter "Jack McGhee" and his friend "Jim Wilson" getting footage of parts on his cellphone, another nice nod to the original show, but could have been better.  Wilson is a character from Hulk's past in the comics and was one of his good friends/allies in the animated series of the 80's.

Watching this film today, really makes one wonder how General Ross made it to Secretary of Defense, or might be an intentional mockery of how the incompetent rise to the top through lies and political favor.

Banner finally hooks up with "Mr Blue" aka Dr Samuel Sterns (The Leader) and he tries to use an infusion process to clear Banners gamma poisoning, and appears to work.  Bronski wants the reverse, he wants the raw power of the Hulk in him, Sterns goes through with it, creating the Abomination.  In the fury, parts of the gamma serum drip down onto Sterns head and we see him begin his own transformation but never have seen the result so far.

The battle between Hulk and the Abomination is the fight that Roffalo's Banner references to in The Avengers when he says, "I broke Harlem", showing that he still blames himself for something he was actually trying to clean up.

The end credit scene between Ross and Stark felt very forced, like it wasn't part of the original plan.  Especially given the end of, Iron Man 2, where Stark was told that he was rejected from the group, so why did he approach Ross instead of Fury... for the joke about the "nice suits"?  

Bottom line, this was just made as an Incredible Hulk film, not sure it was seriously ever thought that it would be a master part of the MCU and not sure why they decided to keep it, almost none of this films plots ran through to later films and we never have seen Betty Ross again.  Although we do finally see the Abomination pop up in Shang-Chi, hmm… I wonder how he escaped captivity...

Overall, the film gets 🌟🌟 and a half out of five, and a HUGE part of that is in the respect they show for the original television show, although I'd cast Liv Tyler as Betty Ross again.  As far as an MCU film it gets only half a star because so much of what they started in this film has yet to make it into the current MCU.

There is a lot that I'd have done different and I'll get more into it in my blog on, My MCU Universe that I'll release on New Years Day 2022.

 

MRM : Thor, the best of Phase 1 MCU

 

The coming-of-age story of a petulant boy who is headstrong, proud, vain, arrogant, petty, foolish, greedy and likes to start fights so that people will sing the songs of his victories… that old chestnut…

Did I mention this coming-of-age story is really about a man from another world?  Did I mention this world is seen as Asgard, the fabled dream world of the gods of the Norse? 

Did I mention that the boy isn’t really a boy, he’s a man, nearly 1,500 years old, with god like strength and a hammer that could take down a skyscraper?  Did I forget to mention it’s the legendary God of Thunder, Thor?  But still, a coming-of-age film about a young man who needs to be what it’s like to sacrifice for others.

It’s got a great supporting cast, from two worlds, to help Thor become the man he’s supposed to be.

Odin is just plain fed-up with Thor’s pompous behavior, if he’s not bragging about his “victories in war”, even if it was just a fight that he picked, or he’s whining about how he knows better and should be making more decisions for Asgard and more.  So, before he goes into the Odin-sleep, he banishes Thor and takes his hammer so that it must be earned, wielded by a man worthy of it’s “power”, the power of Thor, and sends them both to Midgard (Earth), separately.

During a battle with the frost giants, Loki notices something strange about when he is touched by them, when he gets back to Asgard he questions Odin to his origins and learns the truth that he's not Odin's blood son.  During their argument, Odin slips into slumber.

As Thor is on earth, having to deal with life here, without his hammer and powers, Odin sleeps and Thor’s brother Loki, assumes part of the thrown, his dark heart wanting to take over Asgard for himself.  He acts like a complete pain in the @$$ for quite a while.

SHIELD comes in and takes "collects" all of the work of Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), and her associates, Darcy (Kat Dennings) & Professor Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) who becomes a major part of the Avengers saga.

I especially like the seen as Agent Phil Coulson watches Thor try to retrieve Mjolnir and fails, it's one of the most powerful scenes of the early MCU.

Selvig rescues Thor from SHIELD by claiming he's a physicist with mental problems, calling him Dr. Donald Blake (a reference to Thor's alter-ego in the comics).

In the meantime, Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander) and the Warriors Three travel to Midgard (Earth) in search of their missing friend.  Loki visits Thor and tells him that Odin has died and that his mother has also banished him from his home.  Watching this scene it's hard to believe that he eventually turns to the good guys side.

Loki sends Odin's mighty Destroyer to finally finish off Thor and his friends so he can take complete control.

Eventually Thor is put to the ultimate test to save his new friends on earth, including his love, Jane Foster and has to sacrifice himself to save them, but in that, earning his place as God Of Thunder and the return of his hammer, Mjolnir.  It's an emotional scene and it moves you, it makes you believe. 

We find out later that this battle in a small town has a huge impact on others in the Marvel Universe, namely Nick Fury and SHIELD, it's what they use as an excuse to make weapons from the tesseract.

The post credit scene of Erik Selvig and Nick Fury is good and really leaves a good tease for Loki's return, but is still pretty small compared to many of the other post credits.

This film is easily the best telling and example of Thor, with Kenneth Branagh directing, it went the way it should, unlike later when they go for the small minded comedy.  This is how Thor should be depicted.

Overall the film gets 🌟🌟🌟🌟 and a half out of five.  Because it took you to the realm of the comic book, like Aquaman or Wonder Woman, it made it feel like a comic book hero come to life.  The balance of the scenes from Earth to Asgard is great, Branagh did an exceptional job.

MRM : Iron Man (2008) aka, Tony’s Ego Part 1

 

In the actual kickoff of the MCU, we get, at least through our worlds timeline, Tony’s Ego : Part One…. I mean, Iron Man!

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) is pushed as the MCU's "golden boy" instead of Captain America so that Hollywood can push the, "all things are possible through technology" 💩

We start with Stark's motorcade being attacked with an IED in the Middle East, then flashback 36 hours to give everyone an idea of Tony's "priorities" in life, like sleeping with hot reporters, or gambling while he's supposed to be at company functions.

Here, we're introduced to James "Roadie" Rhodes (Terrence Howard) who is Tony's old friend and military connection, Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) who is Tony's butler/top guy, and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) who is Tony's secretary/handler.

Then back to real time, after showing off his latest weapon system, The Jericho, the motorcade is attacked and Stark is injured, then put back together in the cave/stronghold of a terrorist group so he can build a Jericho system for them.  instead, he builds what is known in the MCU as the, Mark I suit, a crude version of Iron Man that look a lot like the comics early rendition of the character that he uses to escape his captors.

When he returns to civilization (nice product placement, Burger King, although I don't remember the stores doing anything around the film, at all) he decides that mass weapons manufacturing isn't his thing anymore (in a VERY public press conference, where we first meet, Agent Coulson).  Back at the mansion we see Tony & Pepper have a funny buy crazy moment of, Operation, when she helps him change out the reactor in his chest. 😆  It was good he interrupted her when he did as she was wasting her time with that screaming idiot and stock market wanna-be analyst, Jim Cramer.

He then goes on to design the, Mark II suit, gold and hotrod red (introducing us to JARVIS) and starts his campaign against terrorists that are using his weapons against innocents.  In one fight he's pursued by American fighter jets and has to admit to Roadie that it's him in the armor.

One of the major mistakes of the film is them acting as if they don't have the name, SHIELD in place yet, when in other films we know that it's been in use for decades, going back and watching this, it makes Coulson really look bad, and he's one guy they shouldn't do that to.

In a bid to overthrow the company, it turns out that his number two guy, Obediah Stain (Jeff Bridges, who is awesome, too bad they killed him off) was behind the attack on Tony in the Middle East, he wants to take control of the company so he can keep supplying weapons to whoever has the money, no matter who they are used against.  In that, he takes the reactor from Stark's chest to power his own version of the Mark I, best known in the comics as, Iron Monger.

Of course Tony wins the day & saves the girl, finally realizing that Pepper Potts is the one for him, as he announces to the world, "I am Iron Man."

The post credit scene of Tony and Nick Fury would be the kickoff of the MCU, but really could have/should have been done a bit different with Fury trying to knock down Tony's ego a bit more by telling him that  he's not the only super hero in the world, but since he's Tony Stark he has to do things in public instead of under the radar like "the others".  

Overall it's a pretty good super hero film and origin story for the modern age.

The best part of this movie, is that it's the nuts & bolts Iron Man, the way it should be, the real machine work, clockwork style, not the weak and foolish "nanotech" nonsense they go for in later films.  Seeing that first time he locks on the armor to go after the bad guys and first "super hero landing" is really a great thing!!!

The use of classic rock, namely AC/DC is incredible and greatly helps in connecting the different generations of fans for the comic books and the new films.

Robert Downey Jr is perfect for the role, he comes off as a spoiled brat billionaire playboy, that you want to cheer for but also wouldn't mind slapping the hell out of here and there.  Downey really put his life back together after years of substance abuse, he now uses his role to help people, especially kids needing prosthetics, he's turned into a real life hero.

For the film alone, it get's 🌟🌟 and a half stars but for the kickoff of the MCU, just one, Cap should have been the focus, that  isn't about Downey or Favreau, it's about Marvel's mistake.

I'm always sorry we never got to see this model of the the Iron Man armor from the late early 70's, it's an obvious punchline just waiting to happen, as Tony could call this one, his Horny Armor 😆 given the look of the helmet...  But, there are several versions of the armor that I wish we could have seen.

Throwback Thursday : Wolverine

Once upon a time, Wolverine was even cooler than he is now, he was 5'2" of adamantium & mutant fury, could go toe-to-toe with the Hulk and was the most popular character in the Marvel Universe.

Then one day, some goof decided to make him more "normal", whatever the hell that is, but it really did a lot of damage to the character and caused a cascade that dropped Marvel's sales for years.

There were several attempts to make the character part of some animated shows but they never pulled it off.

To me, the best think about Logan was the complete lack of an origin, it was guesswork, hints, teases, and a lot of crazy rumors.  There were stories about him in a photo during the War Between the States and his flashbacks to something resembling Feudal Japan, then there are the connections he has around the world that couldn't possibly be made in a regular human lifetime.

The origin they gave him was, and still is, absolutely terrible, in fact, putting it into movie form only showed how bad it is, let's hope that Kevin Feige goes back to the classic Wolverine that made "the little guy" the biggest in the Marvel Universe.

With Wolverine, the only thing you knew, was that you never knew, and that was what made his stories so damn good.  In ways, he was like the Batman, he would pull off stunts against the Hellfire Club and miraculous returns from the dead or four... 

Why "fix" something that wasn't broken?  Not sure why Marvel ever went for it, it made zero sense, and today makes even less.  It's the most outrageous parts of the MCU that are the best, and the best has yet to come, we hope.... 

Coming up, January 1st 2022, my ULTIMATE MCU list....

 

X-Men : the movie 2000

The mutants were finally coming to the big screen but it didn't take long for a lot of fans, myself included, to realize that Bryan Singer should have never been allowed near an established franchise.

Today, we're pampered, we're spoiled by how organized the MCU is, and looking back, we realize what a sad cluster**** this film was, in so many ways.

Parts of it were perfect, Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier was about as great as it gets for an older Professor X, he fit the bill perfectly.  Rebecca Romijn as Mystique was another excellent casting, that's lasted beyond many of the others, and she still looks amazing in body paint.

Hugh Jackman has portrayed Wolverine ever since, and although a lot of people rave about him, I have never been that impressed.  It also ruined the character when we saw Wolverine hosting the Tony Awards.  I was a lifelong fan of Wolverine, the real one, the original, but this was based on the new rendition of the character, a watered down version.  The classic Wolverine was so much better.

It was cool to see the characters come to life, especially when I knew one of them from his days in professional wrestling, Tyler Mane as Sabertooth, but the story was sophomoric at best, with a soft plot and poor dialogue and worse character interaction.

As a stand alone film, it gets 🌟 and a half out of five but as part of the MCU it's only half a star for the casting of Xavier, Rebecca Romijn in blue body paint and simply getting the characters to the screen.

 

MRM : Captain Marvel (2019)

Monday Marvel Movie Review:

Captain Marvel, 2019, taking place in 1984 & 1989 on earth, chronologically the next events of the Marvel Universe after Captain America.

Never saw this one in the theaters due to Brie Larson's comments about who she did and didn't want to come seeing her film, an act which should have garnered far more and extreme scrutiny by fans and Marvel Cinema officials, but most seemed to just blow it off.

The film is a lot better than I expected, it's good, bordering on very good but not great, like a lot of the MCU it has a lot of holes and questions.

We open with Vers (pronounced, veers) who is an operative for the Kree Empire, and her training with her supervisor/commander Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) and being told about her "true potential", which they refer to enough that it should have raised your eyebrow.  The Kree's war with the Skrulls is hot and heavy, in a mission to rescue an informant, Veers is captured and promptly escapes with help from her plasma blasts from her hands.

Ending up on earth, after crashing through the roof of a Blockbuster Video, Veers encounters a two-eyed Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) and his rookie partner, Coulson (Clark Gregg), who pursue Veers as a potential enemy as she battles skrulls across Los Angeles.  We also see the early signs of Coulson's diehard like loyalty to Fury begin to come out.

The action and story really move well, the swerves are pretty well done, obvious but still well done, but we eventually realize, along with Veers, that her real name is Carol Danvers and she's not Kree but from Earth.

The new story behind her powers is really good and makes the film, as does her finally realizing her true potential.  You should bet a bit excited when she finally lets loose, it's a great scene.

In this film, we also learn how Fury lost his eye... really Nick?!?  Not to mention, some of the stuff that Fury pulls in this one, it's a wonder he was eventually given command of SHIELD. 😆  And also how a certain team he would later get together got its name.

Pulling at some sympathetic heartstrings along the way really helped this film, without them, it wouldn't be half the film it is, forget the power, the backstory and secondary characters make the movie.  It's not until the end that you really feel the size and scope of the war between the Kree & Skrulls, they should have put that weight on us far earlier.  Once you see one particular person, you know who are the bad guys in this one.

Sad that Cap and her is all that the world gets before the 2000's, the MCU could have/should have been given more.  Again, I've got my take on what the MCU timeline should have looked like coming up on January 1st 2022. 😉

The film gets 🌟🌟 and a half out of five ... and watch out for that damn cat ... SERIOUSLY... whatever happened to that thing??? 😺💥

 

Marvel & DC World Conquerors: the Good, the Bad and the Terrifying

 

When talking about the super villains of our favorite comic books, certain ones give off certain vibes that are very specific to that character.  The Joker is the embodiment of sociopath/psychopath, his vibe is just terrifying because you don’t know if he’s going to play with you, or for how long before killing you.  The Kingpin is a different kind of fear, because he’s a crime boss, but on a global scale, the average person is less than nothing to him.  On a grander scale than that, is Galactus, we’re literally less than insects to him, he simply wants to consume the planet and move on.

I want to talk about six of the real would-be World Conquerors, the ones who actively seek to take the world for themselves, the whole damn thing, and control it, long term. 

First up is Asgard's God of Mischief, Loki, Odin's adopted son and constant thorn in the side of Thor and... well, almost everyone in the Marvel Universe.

We saw what Loki did in the movies when he took over Asgard and moved Odin off to retirement, he built himself statues, had plays about himself ... but this is a very watered down version of him, a "kinder, gentler Loki".  The one from the comics and folklore is hardly watered down, he's cruel and very spiteful, towards almost anyone.  His rule would be a terrible one, filled with a lot of misery, and yes, statues to himself.  Loki is obsessed with ruling others, being the center of attention and would make for a pretty miserable world.  He's on the first of this list because his would be a rule by temperament, his swaying moods would make the world afraid of their shadow and what the infantile ruler would proclaim next.  He's certainly not the worst on this list, but he's far from the best.

Next up, we have Mongul, the ruler (used to be ruler, I can't keep up) of, WarWorld, a planet that all is set out for his pleasure and amusement, especially the battles, which he does in an arena like atmosphere, a bit like in ancient Rome, but far more vast, as he likes everyone fighting to build him up more competitors for his "games".  More than once he has tried to come to earth to take control and turn us into his own play thing.  As a ruler it would be pretty damn miserable but at least many would be safe if for that they are harmless drones (workers providing food or other duties), but it would be a brutal and bloody world for sure.  Like Loki, he really lacks the maturity to really rule, it's all about his amusement.

Thanos, the mad titan, his goal to wipe out half of life in the universe, and then just walk away, as long as the universe is grateful for his generous gift.  A genocidal madman, Thanos craves appreciation for what he see's as his being kind to the beings of the universe, determined to "set balance".  In the comics he's a bit more of a dictator, wanting to be able to command the universe at will.  He's a danger to all because, even without the Infinity Gauntlet, he's still one of the more powerful and deadly beings in the universe, with incredible fighting and combat skills, his pure strength matching even the Hulk.  The good thing about him, is after he see's his "dream" become real, he'd leave what's left of life alone.  Lucky for the survivors but not for the ones he destroys.

Easily the most terrifying one on the list, Darkseid only wants conquest, the very definition of a tyrant, his Omega Beams make him almost unstoppable.  Possessing incredible power he doesn't have the raw amount of combat experience that Thanos has, and has become a bit reliant on others to do his fighting and dirty work, but he can do that, when all he need do is think about who he wishes to slay and his Omega Beams would do the rest.  This would be the most miserable existence as he see's it as his duty to break the will of ALL his subjects, he lives for their suffering and considers it mercy simply to allow them to exist under his heel.  He surrounds himself with those who are the cruelest and most savage to keep his subjects under his constant sorrow and pain.

Back to a would-be world conqueror led by ego, brilliant genius Lex Luthor believes himself to be entitled to rule the world because of his ego & wealth.  Luthor see's it as his place in the universe to rule the earth, solely based on his belief that he deserves it.  Luthor's genius and obsession have warped his mind and soul to the point that his morals revolve only around what he wants.   In both comics and animation we've seen him become President of the United States and each time, his ego and obsession & jealousy over destroying Superman override all his decisions.  In his head, Luthor can't understand why the world doesn't worship his brilliance, many times he comes off looking like a completely spoiled and petulant child.

Finally we come to, Victor Von Doom, also well known as, Doctor Doom, the ruler of Latveria and one of the greatest villains in comic book history.  Doom is the kind of ruling genius that Luthor wishes he was.  Not only does he have the power of his brilliance and armor, his intellect might be superior to that of people like Tony Stark or Bruce Wayne, he is a man who is truly, "burdened with knowledge", far too much for his own good.  Doom is also a master of the mystic arts to the degree of almost being an equal to Steven Strange or maybe even Dr Fate.  Each time he encounters a powerful universal force, he manages to find a way to defeat them or take their power, he's done so against both Galactus and the Beyonder (Secret Wars).  It often takes a great collection of heroes to stop his plans.  Out of this list, he would probably be the most benevolant of those listed, once he has total control, that is.  While he would have the statues in honor of him, he lacks Loki's immaturity and Luthor's ego.  One of his greatest gifts has nothing to do with super or magic powers, his patience, willing to wait for an opportunity that most would not.  Doom has earned his reputation and what ego he has, he will study and explore any aspect of knowledge to gain the power he wants.  It's honestly a wonder that he hasn't accomplished his plans at some point in the Marvel Universe.  

MRM : Captain America The First Avenger

It's #MovieReviewMonday and time to review one of the MCU's best, Captain America : The First Avenger, as we begin our weekly series to review all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with who knows what else, thrown into the mix on other days... 

Like I said, I think this is one of the best of the MCU films, it is true to the character but still has a flood of holes and mistakes in respect to the characters and their history.

Marvel decided to begin the MCU with Iron Man instead of Captain America, which I think was the first mistake.  This was to push the silly notion mentioned in "Iron Man" made by Howard Stark, "All things are possible through technology" and pushing the agenda that tech is the only savior of mankind 😵.  Now don't worry, I'm not going to get biblical on you, that's not my point at all, it's about Heart.

Like too many super hero films in the past, they tried to force far too much into the first movie, there is so much more to Caps story, the 1990 film (poster at right) being a great example. Second mistake, too much in one movie.

The Howling Commandoes, The Invaders, even the legendary character of the Red Skull deserved more than just one movie, despite his later appearances to lead souls in their search for the soul stone.  It just wasn't right given the history of the character of the Red Skull.  So their third mistake was just one film taking place in World War Two.

Personally, I'd have ended this film after Cap has rescued Bucky & the rest of the 107th, and quitting his duty as a chorus girl.  "Let's hear it for, Captain America!" should have been the final line of the film before going to credits.

Throughout the history of the character, numerous villains have admitted that Captain America is the "most dangerous" Avenger because of his leadership and inspiration of others, that should have been the focal part of the film, like the scene at the flagpole or the scene with the grenade, Heart.

In the end of the original film, when Rogers wakes up in modern times, they are playing a replay of a baseball game, we should have already heard part of it, by them doing a scene of Rogers and Barnes at the game together, showing more of their friendship, so not just Cap is alerted when we hear the game playing later.

The cast was terrific, Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Dr Abraham (Stanly Tucci), The Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), Col Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones), Dum Dum Dugan (Neal McDonough were all amazing and it's too bad that most were wasted on one movie.

The story of the Howling Commandoes and The Invaders could have also teased at later films and characters involvement in the MCU, as well as introducing Baron Zeom Sr (another reason for his son to hate Captain America and the Avengers) who could have been the key villain for the 2nd or 3rd film.  Now I know what you're thinking... "third film, when does he go in the ice?", in my plan, not until the 4th film, but I'll go through all that in my, Ultimate MCU post on January 1st 2022 😉.

There is just so much lost on today's fans by only doing one Captain America film during WWII, the importance of war correspondents, morale at home and Patriotism for, not just America, but the world to win that one.  People need to understand what Rogers and others went through and why those experiences changed so much.

One of the mistakes the studio made was not making an official poster that remade the classic Uncle Sam recruiting poster of Cap pointing forward, it seems to be like a simple given to me and many people that I've talked to, but for some reason they didn't put those out, it would have made a great teaser.  

Here we see a fan made poster about War Bonds from his showtime and work as a US Army "chorus girl" as Col Phillips called him.  The marketing for this movie was pretty disappointing, but today's Hollywood isn't much into American Patriotism, one of their major downfalls.

Compared to the rest  of the MCU, this film gets a decent score of 🌟🌟🌟 out of five, but as a stand alone film, I'm afraid it only gets 🌟🌟 out of five.  They dropped, tripped over or just plain ignored all kinds of opportunities with this one.

 

Peggy Carter : The Power Broker

 

Being sick at home 🤧 and watching movie marathons does have one good thing about it, you come up with some really great, if not slightly crazy, ideas for those characters and film franchises. 😵‍💫

Since Steve Rogers went back in time, to return the stones in Endgame, he decided to live out his life with the love of his life, but what else happened?  What if this part of life is what would create the opportunity for Peggy Carter’s niece to become, The Power Broker, in the MCU we know?

After a bit of a “honeymoon period” Steve and Peggy decide to get back to fighting the evil in the world and, in secret form, The Invaders, with Namor, the original Human Torch (no sidekick), the Whizzer, Union Jack and even having Peggy occasionally suit up as a female, Union Jack.

Doing all this completely under the radar would expand Carters connections and end up giving those connections to her niece, who uses it a bit different than her aunt.  

This makes the younger Carter being “The Power Broker” a lot more believable than just another agent who just happens to gain all this… 

This kind of project is what could fulfill the rumors and lure Chris Evans back to his star spangled role, more adventures as a younger Cap in WWII, which would be awesome.  This would allow seeds to be planted for things that are or will pop up in the current MCU.

After Marvel gets things worked out over Fox and the X-Men we could see Captain America’s adventure in Madripoor with Wolverine from back in the day.

Not having The Invaders and officially having, The Howling Commando’s in the MCU was a big mistake and could make for some great movies and build the Captain America legacy that it deserves.

Super Sunday: Roller Disco & Magic, MCU in 1970s Vegas

 

At first the Marvel Cinematic Universe acted as if super hero’s were a “new” thing, but still hinted that they’d been around for a while.

Then we got, Captain America in World War II and Captain Marvel in the 80s, so it really wasn’t new, but who else could have been out there?  So why not give the 70s some space in the MCU?

We know in the mutant part of the MCU that Wolverine has been around for a long time, we just don’t know how they will address that when they shift the mutants from 20th Century Fox to Disney.

Let’s go back to Las Vegas in the 1970s and the possibility of two other great Marvel characters could have already been influencing the world; now don’t go all Austin Powers or Xanadu on me, but Roller Disco was a HUGE thing at one point, and I’m sure the parts of Vegas that got into it, got into it big, so why not introduce part of the mutant-verse into this, The Dazzler, Vegas’s queen of Roller Disco & super hero, for the era, she would have been perfect.  No camp, no over the top comedy, a straight period piece for Super Hero’s in Las Vegas of the 1970s. 

Cool as she was, a stand alone movie might be a bit much, so why not take the opportunity to add a lesser known Marvel hero, but one that fits perfectly into the world of Las Vegas, the Jack of Hearts?  One of my all time favorites he could be billed as Vegas’ premier magician during showtimes but a full blown super hero in the off time.  

Even though their comic book pasts don't give them much in common I think that the era and location turn them into a perfect pairing.

Perhaps the introduction of a villain from the X-Men world would be a nice foe for them, like Mojo, looking for fresh entertainment for his enslaved world goes after these two, only to have him discover the plethora of incredible entertainment from this earth era, who not only have to save themselves but also all of Vegas/Hollywood from Mojo’s mad desire to take both over to keep his power.

Part of the film could touch on the back stories of the characters, in flashbacks or just the character telling the story to the other, but I think it would help build them up.  Jack Hart could recall the days when he had to construct his containment suit to control his powers.  Hart could also reveal that he is part alien.

It would also be great if Jack was using Vegas as a cover to aid and teach meta-humans (and mutants), it's the perfect city for it, easy to hide the fantastic in a city of over the top entertainment.

Many aren't aware that The Dazzler, once simply called, The Disco Queen wasn't originated by Marvel, but commissioned by, Casablanca Records (we need to work that legendary label in somewhere).  This could give the film several tie-ins with 70s On 7 with Sirius XM.

It would also be cool to put in some cameo's, but do so without the camp, of stars from the age, Elvis Presley or Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack, or someone from the genre like, The Bee Gee's, as if they don't have enough film credits. 😆

This also provides two, well experience, supers for cameo’s in movies and streaming shows.

Super Sunday : The Angel

 Among the MANY classic mutant characters that Bryan Singer completely screwed up, The Angel stands as one of the worst.  It started off great, one of the few bright points of the third X-Men film, a good backstory of problems with his bigoted father and him finally breaking free to seek shelter in the Mansion but it quickly ended there.  

Warren Worthington III is one of the original X-Men and should have been treated far better… but then again, Singer pretty much screwed up everything X he touched, although Quick Silver and First Class were good, but that was probably more the writers than him.  

The Angel is worthy of a beautiful and uplifting film, if not a two

film arch that ends with him joining the X-Men.  No need for Archangel at all, at least not for a while, no need to rush into anything, he also needs some time with, The Defenders.  This could also be the chance to introduce Mutants into the MCU, Strange forms the Defenders in the teaser at the end of Angel 2, then later joins the X-Men.

The main problem with getting any super hero movie done right are directors like Singer (clueless) and studio execs who don’t care about story telling and only think about toy lines and $$$, often with no clue about the characters or how films are even made.

For Angel, a love story, not some teeny-bopper nonsense that Disney or Singer would do, a good one, with actual heart and, INSPIRATION, that should be a big part of it.  

Billionaire heir apparent and his bigoted father war over a woman that Warren has fallen for, maybe another mutant, and in a final outburst of defiance he shows his father who he really is, saving his girl and others.

This all came to me one day driving around and Faith Hills, If My Heart Had Wings, came on the radio, it’s perfect for a story with Angel.  Keep the original by Hill, if not add some more power to the background music, don’t let some hip-hop fool revamp and pervert it.

This is one of those great opportunities that Marvel has, but is probably overlooking and not seeing the potential of the character, it could be an incredible movie.

https://youtu.be/sFeD1sHuA-Q