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!!!

 

Andrew and the arrival of Madame Web

Seeing the two former Spider Men in the new film was a truly great moment, but it also allowed us to see deeper into each of them and see their differences.

What we saw from Andrew Garfield's version, is that he's the tragic Spidey, the lonely one, the lost one.  He lost his parents, lost his Gwen and has yet to find his Mary Jane.

Garfield did a great job, as he had done in his films, but seeing him with these other two made you wonder what happened to him, in his universe after he was returned.

In this version of Spider Man I see the opportunity to introduce one of the characters from the Spider-verse that crosses over them all, something that this Spider Man could really use in his journey, a guide, Madame Web.

McGuire's version seems a bit old for this to be introduced on him now, Holland's version is looking for a whole new way in the world but Garfield's version is the one who needs Madame Web the most.

She not only could help guide him on his journey as Spider Man but also on his personal journey to find out the mystery of his parents.

Garfield's personality and look seem to be good for a more mystical Spider Man and a bit darker New York.

After a couple of very rough nights, both in which he wasn't in time to save everyone from tragedies, Parker is wondering if it's all worth it, even with what he learned from the other Spidey's, he's really not sure of himself.

As he swings into a dark alley to retrieve his clothes and head home, the dark alley turns into a very deep hole in space, as he finally lands and dark bluish/purple light comes up and there sits Madame Web. 

Web tells Peter that Spider-Man is a very crucial thread throughout the multiverse, a part that even Stephen Strange doesn't yet understand, and that's why there are so many of them, his core is special to the web of existence.   The mantra of Spider Man, "With great power comes great responsibility" is part of Peter's core being in each universe.   She explains that Peter Parker is one of the few beings in the multiverse who doesn't have a "dark side" in some other realm, that he is a beacon of Good.

As far as his love interest, this would be the perfect universe to introduce, The Black Cat, Felecia Hardy and her style and history seems to fit here.  Hardy comes from a very rich family, Peter would be a fish out of water in that aristocratic world, could make for the humorous parts of the films.  The Tobey-verse has, in my opinion, the bast Mary Jane Watson, and the Holland-verse is rebooting, open for many possibilities, but The Cat just seems to fit here,

It's this that sets up his confrontation with Morbius.  Yes, I know there are scenes that set him up for the Holland-verse but I think this is the one that the Venom and Morbius characters need to be centered in, it just seems to feel like a more perfect fit than the Tom Holland universe.  I'm very excited for the Morbius film but it just all seems far too dark for the MCU of today, but would work in the Andrew-verse perfectly.

In one of the post film scenes of, No Way Home, we see Eddie Brock (why he was brought to that universe is unknown, he had no idea who Peter Parker or Spider Man even were at all), this should set up them coming to NYC.

Like Morbius, the Venom storyline is pretty dark, and a lot more violent than the Holland films have seen so far, why mess up that formula when it works better here?

This, to me, would fix that mistake of Brock in the Holland-verse, and yes I think it was a major mistake.  Let Holland's version find Venom the way the character did in the original story, during Secret Wars.

With the introduction of Madame Web we could also see the different Spider Men come together again in some kind of convergence like we saw in the 90's animated series, allowing some characters to jump from one universe to another.

 

Spider Man : Rebooting the Tobey-verse

Going into Spider Man No Way Home, I had some specific ideas on what I would like to see in the upcoming life of Spider Man (Tom Holland), but came out with some completely different ones.

The film was VERY GOOD, bordering on great, but left out some things that should have been in, and was a bit disappointing in other ways, I'll get into details later when more have had a chance to see it.

But, it did also make me completely relook at the McGuire and Garfield versions of the character and see that there are some genuine possibilities for more films on both of those parts of the Spidey-verse.

Given that McGuire and Dunst have more dramatic acting experience, I thought that this could be the more dramatic version of the character.  Plenty of web-action but with much deeper and emotional tones to the stories.

In my opinion there should be two constants in the multiple Spider Man universes, JK Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson and, the yet to be introduced, Madame Web, hopefully they find the right actress who can portray the part across them all.

Speaking of J Jonah Jamison there was one line he had in the second Spider-Man movie where he was trying to name "Dr. Octopus" for a headline and came up with a name "Doctor Strange" but acknowledged that the name was already taken, who was he talking about?  Does this mean the sorcerer supreme already existed in this existence of Spider-Man?  If he does exist in that thread of the multiverse, who else might be there?

Back to the subject at hand, Mark Of The Man Wolf, would be a pretty deep and dramatic way to go for McGuire's version of the character.

This is one of the most memorable and well known of the classic Spider Man stories, thanks a lot to it's radio-style dramatization to a record-storybook set from the 1970's.

I had the original comic and story record as a kid and went years before I even tried to listen to it with the lights out 😆, looking back I'm amazed they made that story into a record for little kids.  Given the popularity for werewolf stories is still high, this could draw in new Spider Man fans.

This is a really intense story and changed J Jonah Jameson, until they changed him back, but I'd suggest this JJJ gets taken down a notch or two with this story, it could even be a two part film set.

Another reason to save, and extend, the Tobey-verse is that they have, Alfred Molina as Doctor Otto Octavious, aka, Doc Ock.  At the end of, No Way Home, he was still in possession of his extra arms and had the chip putting him back in control not only repaired, but highly upgraded.  One can really hope that he survived when he returned to his world and was able to help save the city.  This would make for a unique version of the Spidey-verse where Otto is not only still alive and attached but also a possible ally for the future.  This actor/character pairing is just too good and too popular to let go.

Bottom line is, there are still viable possibilities for the Tobey McGuire version of the Spider-verse, if he and Dunst are willing to make a go of it.


 

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 2 aka, Tony's Ego part 2

Marvel doubled down with the 2nd installment of the MCU as Iron Man 2 took to the screen.  Looking back from today, we realize that the MCU isn't what we thought it was back then, so much centers around or leads back to, Tony Stark.

We start the film with Tonys tribute to Tonys ego, his resurrection of the Stark Expo, a whole year of it, or it was supposed to have gone on for a year... we never found out if they tried to finish it or not.

On his way out, a cameo by the always hot, Kate Mara, who serves Tony with an order to appear before the senate armed services committee hearing, which turns into a fun scene of Tony (Robert Downey Jr) making complete fools out of Senator Stern (Garry Shandling, who later turns out to be part of Hydra) and a political committee attempting to forcibly take the "Iron Man weapon" from him.  He also makes a fool out of fellow billionaire/designer (not really hard to do with this guy) Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell).

Another film where the Stark family history comes back biting, this time in the form of the son of a man who helped Howard Stark (John Slattery) design the arc reactor and then was shuffled off to Siberia to keep him from the world, never sharing a penny for his work and creations.

Ivan Vanko, the supervillain known as, Whiplash (Mickey Rourke, who should have won the Oscar for, The Wrestler) is the son of Starks former scientist and is out to avenge what was done to him, in a vodka fueled rage.

Back in his hotrod workshop, we find out that Stark is being poisoned by the cell in his chest that is keeping him alive and that the use of the Iron Man suit only makes it worse, but he does everything to keep it to himself, and he turns control of Stark Industries over to Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow).

This film introduces Natasha Romanoff, aka The Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) as part of Stark Industries staff, he first scene in a funny bit with the films director, Jon Favreau, in his role as, Happy Hogan.

Tony, Pepper, Happy and Natasha travel to Monaco, where Elon Musk makes a cameo, Tony then subs himself in for his own Formula 1 driver, but the race is interrupted by Whiplash.  In another of the moments that is the way Iron Man should be, we see Tony change into the suit via a special briefcase, again the nuts & bolts of the suit being far better than the weak and lazy writing with "nanotech".

It's here that the MCU touches, ever so briefly, on one of the biggest parts of Tony's past, his alcoholism, as was featured in the comics in the 1970s, but came to help define and humble the character, this version could use some humility, they didn’t take this part seriously enough at all.

During one of Starks benders, he throws a massive party as his mansion and uses the Iron Man armor to blow up water melons.  James "Roadie" Rhodes (Don Cheadle) steps in and takes one of Tony's Iron Man suits.

Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) and Black Widow stage an intervention in a donut shop, where Widow sticks Tony with a sirum that helps to curb the effects of the paldium poisoning, for now.

Agent of SHIELD, Phil Coulson is assigned to babysit Stark as he's locked in his mansion to review a bunch of his dad's old work and movies from his version of the Stark Expo.  It's in these films that we hear Howard Stark's comment, "all things are possible through technology", and Marvel seems to want that to be their new motto over the classic, With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility, because hey, who should be or needs to be when your a, playboy-billionaire-philanthorpist... right?

Coulson leaves to "take care of something more important in the southwest (the discovery of Thor's hammer), Tony takes off to tell Pepper happy birthday and apologize.  While in his old office he gets a revelation while looking at the old scale model of his dad's Stark Expo.

To cure himself and to defeat Danko, Tony must fulfil his fathers dream, that he didn't have the technology back in his day.

Justin Hammer frees Danko and gets him to work on his own line of iron men, but Danko has a different plan.  The final battle is a pretty good one, although Whiplash being regulated to just another battle suit seems to be a slap to the classic villain.

Overall, the movie is really a lot about Tony's ego and little to do with the Avengers and/or the MCU, except to introduce Black Widow (which they could have done with her own movie) and War Machine... oh, and we also see Tony save a young Peter Parker at the Stark Expo (which the kids identity was thrown in LONG after the films release).  As far as an Iron Man adventure, it was too much Stark and not enough Iron Man, they could have done better.  It gets 🌟 and a half stars out of five, just because Scarlett Johansson looked so good in that suit.  The film is mainly about pushing the, "all things are possible through technology" 💩 than anything else... but the third film is even worse, but we'll get to that...

 

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....

 

Deadpool Meets The Mask

 It’s not just the movie we NEED it’s the movie we DESERVE! 

A whacked out Wednesday with a film idea that just can't be passed up or ignored....

With a title out of a 50’s drive-in monster flick, the meeting of Deadpool and The Mask would be unbelievable and, if done right, could gross more $$$ than any other EVER!

Getting Ryan Reynolds as the worlds favorite Merc and Jim Carrey as the comic book like Mask would be an absolute riot, in more ways than one.

As the Marvel Multiverse starts to overlap, Wade has been hunting bad guys in Russia and has just walked out of a convenience store with an arm full of chimichangas just outside of Chernobyl.  After downing them far too fast he feels himself being ripped through the multiverse, but something goes wrong, as the nuclear snack foods have a bad reaction with him being a mutant, a thunderous fart blasts him off course and into the world of Stanly Ipkiss and, The Mask.

Even if it's just an extended weekend of these two anti-heroes going through the universe of The Mask, having to deal with a regular assortment of criminals and Stanly's landlady, Mrs Peenman, it would be an absolute scream for audiences as these two comedy masters whip out improv lines that the FX department has to keep up with, that might even be one of the jokes in the film (come on guys, try to keep up).

And then there is the post credit scene of Wade in the Marvel Universe.... 

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