Tag Archives: Guardians of the Galaxy

Marvel Phase 2 concept art: ‘Cap,’ ‘Guardians’

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captain america the winter soldier

Yes, it doesn’t take much more than a couple of cool paintings to make us happy.

The Internets were downright jovial today with the release – maybe officially, maybe unofficially, maybe associated with the big box set of Marvel Phase 1 films on disc – of some concept art from Marvel Phase 2.

Above is a very cool piece of art for “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” The title indicates the movie will likely follow the comics storyline in which Cap’s friend and former sidekick, Bucky Barnes, comes back after decades presumed dead and appears as the Winter Soldier, a Russian agent.

guardians of the galaxy concept art

And here’s some concept art for “Guardians of the Galaxy,” which follows the Cap sequel into theaters by several months in 2014.

Looks like the gang’s all here, or at least the recognizable ones, including Groot the living tree thingy and Rocket Raccoon … the talkin’, scrappin’ space raccoon.

Okay, yes, it sounds odd. But I think it’s supposed to.

Anyway, enjoy.

Marvel movies: Rumors, facts and portents

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So “Iron Man 3” comes out in May, followed over the next couple of years by “Thor: The Dark World,” “Captain America: Winter Soldier,” “Guardians of the Galaxy” and an “Avengers” sequel, with a possible Ant-Man movie thrown into the mix somewhere along the way to 2015.

And we’re getting a little antsy for new Marvel Comics movie developments.

So can anyone blame the online contingent that freaked out (I originally wrote that as “fraked out” but let’s not mix franchises here) when word circulated that the U.K. version of the “Avengers” DVD and Blu had an edited version of SHIELD agent Coulson’s death at the hands of Loki? A version that didn’t show Loki’s blade protruding from Coulson’s chest?

One that might confirm that Coulson is resurrection bound, possibly to return in the “SHIELD” TV series and future Marvel movies?

Of course, the explanation was the simplest one: Disney decided to tone down the gruesome, blade-penetrating part of the death because it was too awful for Brits to see, apparently. Even the ones who had already seen it on the big screen early this summer.

So, anyway, don’t even think about Clark Gregg coming back as Agent Coulson (“His first name is Agent”). And definitely don’t even contemplate Gregg coming back as the synthetic Avenger known as The Vision.

Don’t. Even. Think. About. It.

(Above is the edited and un-edited scene.)

We move from the news that wasn’t really real to the news that was kinda real. Some online headlines blared the other day that Chris Evans might have a small part as Captain America in the “Thor” sequel. Clicking through, however, we see that Evans is saying he would be down with hanging out with his pal Chris Hemsworth in the movie. It would make sense and would serve the old Marvel tradition of brief comic book crossovers.

While we’d all like to see guest appearances by all the Avengers – and more – in upcoming solo adventures, we know that will happen only if it fits into Marvel’s Phase Two plans.

And now from the news that was definitely real department: Director James Gunn, previously rumored to be the company’s pick for the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie, announced that he is officially onboard for the adventures of Starlord, Drax and Rocket Raccoon, the cosmic version of the Avengers.

Gunn, whose horror movie “Slither” is a little gem of funny weirdness, seems likely to give Joss Whedon a run for his money in the quip arena:

“As a lifelong lover of Marvel comics, space epics, AND raccoons, this is the movie I’ve been waiting to make since I was nine years old.”

It sounds like Gunn will make us believe a raccoon can fly … a spaceship.

 

 

New Comic Con images: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ ‘Man of Steel’

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The news was coming out of San Diego Comic Con faster than a speeding bullet tonight.

The Warner Bros. panel, according to online reports, included footage of Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel,” the latest Warners/DC reboot of Superman.

The company also released a new teaser poster showing Henry Cavill as Supes:

The Marvel Films panel had some interesting news, including some titles: “Thor: The Dark World” for November 2013; “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” for April 2014 and “Guardians of the Galaxy” for August 2014.

Those follow the previously announced “Iron Man 3” for May 2013.

The “Winter Soldier” portion of the next Cap title would lead fans to expect that Bucky, Cap’s sidekick who “died” in the first movie, will be back. That’s because in the comics, after an absence of several decades, Bucky returned as the Winter Soldier, an assassin trained and maintained in youthful form by the Soviets.

“Guardians of the Galaxy” is an even more interesting turn of events that has, so far this evening, split fan opinion online.

The movie has been predicted for a few weeks now since Thanos, Marvel’s cosmic villain, showed up at the end of “The Avengers.” The Guardians, who have been around in one form or another since the 1960s, are longtime enemies of Thanos.

As another superhero team for Marvel movie-making besides the Avengers, they make as much sense as anything and are a more likely group in some ways than the Inhumans (fan fave characters who might have too many ties to the Fantastic Four for Marvel’s film arm to have the rights to) or the Defenders (which has included, over the years, such off-limits characters as the Silver Surfer and already-familiar ones like the Hulk).

Yet “Guardians” feels like a risk because it is cosmic in scope – a concept that was tested in “The Avengers” but still feels pretty disconnected from the “reality” established in Marvel’s movies so far – and because the characters are an unusual bunch, including Rocket Raccoon.

It’ll be interesting to see who Marvel chooses to helm “Guardians” and what direction the movie takes.

 

Ant-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy: Marvel movie universe-building

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Somebody asked me the other day if I planned to go see “The Amazing Spider-Man” next and I said, “Yeah, probably.” Right up until the time I saw Sam Raimi’s lackluster “Spider-Man 3” in 2007, my answer would have been much more emphatically positive about the cinematic adventures of the wall-crawling webslinger. The final Raimi film kind of burned me out on the character.

And the idea of rebooting “Spider-Man” yet again, with another origin story, no matter how overstuffed with a “mystery” about Peter Parker’s parents it might feature, makes me suddenly very, very tired.

So I have to say that while I’m sure I’ll see “The Amazing Spider-Man,” I’m not excited about it.

That’s also because I’ve been spoiled, frankly, by Marvel’s universe-building big-screen efforts.

The movie versions of “Fantastic Four” and “X-Men” are owned by Fox and “Spider-Man” is owned by Sony. That means that despite brief teases to the possibility of a cross-over like we heard earlier this year, those movie universes won’t mix with Marvel Films-owned and operated properties like “Iron Man,” “Thor,” “Captain America” and “The Avengers.”

So while I’m looking forward to “The Amazing Spider-Man” and “The Dark Knight Rises,” I’m more excited to see where Marvel goes next with its universe-building efforts.

Rumors circulated in the past couple of days that the long-rumored “Ant-Man” character might end up in “Iron Man 3,” which comes out next May. I’m not sure how some people are authoritatively saying this when so much time remains for last-minute changes, but … well, it would be quite cool to see one of the original Avengers – not to mention his partner, Wasp – finally make the big screen.

Today online sites were lit up with suggestions, primarily drawn from Latino Review, that Marvel is going to release a “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie in 2014. Despite the fact that the characters are little-known outside of comics fandom – they’re even more obscure than “Iron Man” was before 2008 – the diverse group of cosmic adventurers would make for a huge expansion for the Marvel universe.

And as many online sources noted, the “Guardians” also makes sense because one of their regular antagonists is cosmic bad guy Thanos, who appeared in the mid-credits teaser at the end of “The Avengers.”

While my lifelong appreciation of “The Avengers” doesn’t necessarily carry over to “Guardians of the Galaxy” – I’m just not as familiar with them – I would be happy to see Marvel’s movies continue to expand the Marvel cinematic universe.

And I’ll dream of the day when Spidey will bump into Captain America and Iron Man during battle in the streets of New York.