Category Archives: comic books

Save the dates: More Marvel movies

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dr strange

The least surprising news out of Hollywood this week: More Marvel Comics movies are on the horizon.

Marvel announced a still-unspecified movie would debut in theaters on July 8, 2016.

That’s in addition to Marvel movies – also unspecified – set for May 6, 2016, and May 5, 2017 that were announced in recent weeks.

Those are all in the wake of previously-announced – and specified – Marvel movies for 2015, namely the sequel to “The Avengers” and “Ant-Man.”

We’ll know – maybe as early as next month’s San Diego Comic Con – details of those 2016 and 2017 movies. Last year, for example, Comic Con audiences were the first to hear the full titles for upcoming Marvel movies like “Thor: The Dark World” (out this November) and 2014 titles like “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.”

So we’ll know before long if those upcoming movies will be sequels featuring Thor and Cap or new movies featuring the likes of “Dr. Strange” and “Black Panther.”

Some online reports this week indicated that “Dr. Strange” – the movie and character – would be a running thread through future Marvel movies not unlike the way Iron Man has been in the first set of movies.

It would be an interesting choice, considering that Stephen Strange, surgeon turned master of the mystic arts, is a more fantasy-oriented character than any we’ve seen so far (with the possible exception of Thor) and making him a central character like Iron Man is an indication that Marvel is edging further “out there” in its films. It would also, if cast correctly, be a character that could equal Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark in the hearts of moviegoers – a good move since Downey is only so far signed to appear in the two “Avengers” sequels.

Here’s looking forward to some new news.

Magneto on the job in ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’

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michael fassbender days future past

Michael Fassbender’s Magneto was one of the best things about “X-Men: First Class.” A few people opined online that they’d pay to watch him hunt Nazis for an entire movie.

So a little Fassbender is nothing but a good thing in “X-Men: Days of Future Past.”

Director Bryan Singer is tweeting pictures of the cast and from the set, and today he released the Fassbender.

The movie comes out in July 2014.

The movie revisionists: Everything you know is wrong

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man of steel big

Think you know the story of Superman?

Well, maybe not.

When “Man of Steel” comes out June 14,  director Zack Snyder might have a few surprises even for longtime fans of the man of … er, steel.

Most of us don’t know what to expect from “Man of Steel” yet, but it’s certain that a few elements of the Superman mythos will be tweaked at the very least.

That’s not surprising, because most filmmakers like to bring something new to their versions of familiar stories. That’s why “The Amazing Spider-Man” retold the origin of the webslinger only about a decade after we saw it before and tried to infuse new elements – chiefly a mystery about Peter’s parents – into it.

It’s not just superhero stories that get revamped. When director John Carpenter made “The Thing” in 1982, he made the “walking alien carrot” much less of the traditional monster familiar from 1951’s “The Thing from Another World.” the first adaptation of John Campbell’s story. Carpenter made the alien menace a much more paranoia-inducing shapeshifter.

By the way, spoilers ahead for some current movies if you haven’t seen them.

Some fans of the “Iron Man” comics were irritated when this summer’s “Iron Man 3” made huge changes to the character of the Mandarin, the longtime antagonist of Tony Stark.

iron man mandarin comics

The Mandarin went from an Asian menace armed with magic rings …

mandarin iron man 3

To a figurehead, a stalking horse played by a down-at-the-heels British actor.

Sometimes it’s more than changing characters. Sometimes it’s all about changing the background of sets of characters.

khan

The classic 1982 “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” was a sequel to an episode of the original series and emphasized the bad blood and shared history of Khan, the genetically superior warrior, and Jim Kirk.

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In this summer’s “Star Trek Into Darkness,” however, there was no history between Kirk and Khan. And I think the movie suffered for that.

With “Man of Steel,” the rumors have been flying about changes Snyder and producer Christopher Nolan might have made.

Does Superman’s Kryptonian birth father, Jor-El, live? Or are the clips of Russell Crowe talking to Henry Cavill just indicative of an amazingly lifelike hologram?

Is Zod (Michael Shannon) sprung from the Phantom Zone or does he arrive in a space ship? Sure looks like a Kryptonian ship in the background to me.

We won’t know the answers for a few days. But we can already guess about fairly interesting cosmetic changes to two longtime characters from the “Superman” stories.

perry white and jimmy olsen

Daily Planet editor Perry White and cub reporter/photographer Jimmy Olsen have been staples of the comics for a half-century.

jenny olsen rebecca buller laurence fishburne

Snyder, interestingly, cast Laurence Fishburne, an African-American actor, to play White, who has traditionally been, well, white. I love Fishburne and I think this is a big win.

But it’s less clear who’s playing Jimmy Olsen in the movie. In fact, it’s becoming more clear that Jimmy Olsen isn’t in the movie. Actress Rebecca Buller seems to be playing Jenny Olsen.

Jimmy_Olsen

Traditional Jimmy.

rebecca-buller-jenny-olsen

New Jenny.

I can live with that.

Unrealistic comic book drawings? Ridiculous!

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storm new x-men

So there’s some Internet buzz about the new comic book X-Men team being made up of all women.

And here’s Storm, leader of the group.

Nobody ever said comic book superheroes and superheroines were realistically drawn. And i enjoy some fanboy objectification as much as the next geek.

But really.

So I think we know this Storm’s mutant power: An extra strong spine to deal with that figure.

‘Avengers 2’ update: Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch planned

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The_Avengers_2_quicksilver scarlet witch

So this is happening.

Joss Whedon, after having referred to wanting to add a “brother-sister” team to the mix in “The Avengers 2” or whatever the sequel will be called when it’s released in 2015, confirmed this week he was talking about Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, early Avengers members, children of Magneto of “X-Men” fame.

Quicksilver, or Pietro Maximoff, is Marvel’s fastest mutant. Scarlet Witch, or Wanda Maximoff, has powers that appear magical. They’ve been villains at times but heroes more often than not.

If you remember way back in May 2012, I wrote about the online guessing game that began after Whedon wrote several mentions of SHIELD agent Phil Coulson’s cellist girlfriend into “The Avengers.”

Quint and other folks speculated that the reference was to Scarlet Witch because the character – and this is a point of contention – supposedly had some background as a cellist in the comics.

Why would that be interesting?

vision and scarlet witch

Well, because Coulson was killed off and we all hoped he would come back as the Vision, the android Avenger. Cause Vision and Wanda were a longtime couple in the comics.

Of course now Coulson’s come back, somehow, for this fall’s “Agents of SHIELD” TV series. So now we don’t know what to think.

Anyway, if the cellist references and Vision hints didn’t pan out, at least we have Whedon saying outright he plans to bring the two into the mix.

saoirse-ronan scarlet witch

Of course, they’re also talking about Saoirse Ronan as Wanda in the movie, and there’s just way too big an age difference between the young actress and Coulson actor Clark Gregg.

Even in Hollywood.

Oh, Vision.

 

First look: The Falcon from ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’

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the falcon anthony mackie

We’re seeing more and more from “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” now that filming has begun.

Here’s Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson, also known as The Falcon, Captain America’s modern-day partner.

captain america and the falcon

Here’s how the duo looked in the comics.

It’s likely The Falcon’s wings will be added in post-production, so we’ll have another glimpse to look forward to in a few months.

The movie comes out in April 2014.

‘Iron Man 3’ spoiler? Really, don’t read on …

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spoiler warning Iron Man 3

Not very many days ago I wrote that I don’t want to know more about “Iron Man 3.”

It was a lie and I am a damn dirty liar.

So today the Interwebs are lit up with reports from early screenings of “Iron Man 3” that indicate the nature of the post credits – or is it mid-credits, like the Thanos scene in “The Avengers?” – stinger for “Iron Man 3.”

Yes, we’ve heard rumors that Tony Stark will suit up in a space-going armor at the end of “Iron Man 3.” All the better for Iron Man to take his place on the “Guardians of the Galaxy” team.

So … maybe.

But now we’re told that the credits scene of “Iron Man 3” gives us something we’ve wanted to see since the end of “The Avengers.”

Still want to know?

Are you sure?

robert downey jr mark ruffalo

Yes, at the end of “The Avengers,” Tony Stark and Bruce Banner take off together, newly found comrades in science.

We’ve wanted to see more of that duo ever since.

Early spoilers from “Iron Man 3” screenings indicate that the story of the movie, told in flashback by a traumatized Tony, is actually recounted to … Bruce Banner.

In the spoilery credits scene, Tony is talking and talking and talking and … Bruce is dozing off.

“You know, I’m not that kind of a doctor,” Banner tells Stark, who continues with his story.

Okay, so do you feel better or worse?

 

Hoping for the best from ‘Man of Steel’

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man of steel flying upward

Superman is a test that many movie- and TV-makers don’t quite pass.

Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and continually published and re-printed since Action Comics No. 1 hit the stands in early 1938 – 75 years ago – Superman and his alter ego, Clark Kent, make up one of the most recognizable characters in all of popular culture.

So it’s not a surprise that DC Comics and Warner Brothers – frustrated in their efforts to create a big-screen presence since “Superman Returns” missed the mark several years ago – are trying again with “Man of Steel,” due in theaters June 14.

I’m still not sold that director Zack Snyder has the character right. But I was a little more convinced after the trailer for “Man of Steel” released a few days ago.

man of steel vista

That’s mostly because the trailer, at least, emphasizes the “outsider” status of the character.

Make no mistake, and I’ve said it here before: Superman is not a brooding character like Batman. He’s not driven by nightmares. He’s not wracked by guilt. If Snyder’s “Man of Steel” is marked by those characteristics, the movie will fail.

But he is, for all his optimism and courage and innate knowledge of right and wrong, an outsider.

The trailer seems to acknowledge this, portraying a Kal-El/Clark/Superman who, as a young man, is uncertain about what he should do with his life and afraid of how he will seem to the world around him.

As he grows up, he appears to wander far away from Smallville, even though he continues to use his powers for good, rescuing men in a fiery accident.

The trailer shows us a Lois Lane (Amy Adams) who has been seeking this man of mystery (Henry Cavill), and it is in Lois’ words that the movie might find the best definition of the character.

“How do you find someone who has spent a lifetime covering his tracks?” Lois asks. “For some, he was a guardian angel. For others, a ghost. He never quite fit in.”

Yes.

Superman is, even while he is the champion of his adopted world, an outsider. He’s the last of his kind – well, for the most part – and the first of a new kind on Earth. He feels an obligation to his new home even as he mourns the home he never knew.

Tellingly, Lois asks Superman – still unnamed to the world at large – about the “S” on his chest, and Superman tells her that the symbol stands for “hope” on his world.

Playfully, Lois notes that on this planet, it’s an “S” and begins to suggest it should stand for Superman before she is interrupted.

The trailer seems to capture the world of Superman. We can hope so, at least.

(I still don’t get the kid in the backyard with a makeshift cape on his shoulders. If that’s young Clark, it doesn’t make sense. Who is he imitating? I’m more convinced now than earlier that the boy isn’t Clark, but is a young boy play-acting as Superman after the character becomes known to the world. If so, it will be a lump-in-your-throat moment.)

Looking forward, with hope, to June 14.

Carmine Infantino RIP

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flash 123

So sad to note, in the wake of the passing of Roger Ebert, the death at age 87 of classic comic book artist and editor Carmine Infantino.

As an artist from the 1940s on, Infantino left an indelible mark on comic books.

showcase 4 flash 1956

If he did nothing else but create the Silver Age Flash in 1956 – the re-introduction of classic DC characters who would go on to spawn the modern age of comics – Infantino would be a legend.

He created, after all, that distinctive Barry Allen Flash outfit: Crimson with yellow boots and yellow lightning bolts. It is the uniform that survives, with small variations, to this day and is the Flash that several generations of comic book and animation – and maybe, one day, live-action movie – fans think of when they think of the character.

But Infantino also created or co-created other Silver Age characters like Barbara (Batgirl) Gordon and, for goodness’ sake, Flash’s Rogues Gallery, including Captain Cold and Gorilla Grodd.

carmine-infantino batman robin

He even helped revamp Batman and Robin to make them relevant for the mid-1960s.

And as one of DC Comics’ top editors in the 1960s, he oversaw a massive overhaul of that comic book house.

For a lot of us who grew up reading comic books in the 1960s – even for those of us who more often sought out the irreverent pleasures of Marvel Comics than the childlike pleasures of DC – Infantino’s images and his many, many covers are what we think of when we think of comics.

infantino

Carmine Infantino, you’ll be missed.