Marvel vs. DC, TV goes head to head...

Ok, so I forgot the great Marvel TV shows:

I was writing a post lamenting my inability to overlook ignorance of basic physics.  This in relation to TV shows that I have been watching recently adapted from comic books.  The majority of these being from DC Comics.

I’ve been watching a lot of The Flash, Arrow, and most recently Legends of Tomorrow.  For the most part I have been enjoying them immensely.  More so than Marvel Agents of SHIELD, where I have just finished the third series.  I began comparing the franchises, against each other and their big screen counterparts.  Drawing a conclusion that while Marvel are champions of the big screen, DC had the edge on the small.  For me Agents of SHIELD has become peppered with filler with the purpose of forwarding the overall series long story arc rather than that of the current episode.  The result being episodes that go off the boil.  In this DC have a knack of making solid episodes, entertaining in their own right, while still furthering the series long story arc.

Having put the finishing touches to my post, I hit save and slept on it.  Something I like to do is read with fresh eyes and a clear head the morning after as a final part of the editing process,  It was while laying in bed that night that it occurred to me that I had recently started watching the second series of Daredevil.  This in turn reminded my of Jessica Jones.  Both Marvel franchises that are bloody brilliant.  Very different to Agents of SHIELD, The Flash, and Arrow, but just as good and arguably better.

So with this in mind.  I’ve realised that the difference in the quality of Marvel’s and DC’s TV shows isn’t so clear cut, and that I need to go back to the drawing board on that post.

Captain America, old dog, new tricks!

It seems that Captain America: The First Avenger wasn't everyone's cup of tea.  I thought it was great, and I was REALLY looking forward to Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  The return of one of my favourite characters within the MCU, coupled with elements from one of his best comic story arcs.

With everything that Marvel Studios has going on at the moment, they could almost be forgiven for leaning (not resting, just leaning) ever so slightly on their laurels.

Wrong.

(Before reading any further, please go and see the film.  Spoilers ahead!)

Through the various trailers in the build up to The Winter Soldier's release we were fed tidbits of information that hinted at the potential demise of Nick Fury.  Boy does that story element turn out to be small fry!  Marvel Studios go one step further and tear down S.H.I.E.L.D altogether.  To me this shows that they aren't afraid to tackle big, bold story themes that shake things up, and reminds me very much of comic book type story telling.

Alongside this all out action, you have an overall film feel that harks back to the spy classics of yesteryear.  With suspense, tension, and great characters alongside the action that you would come to expect from a Marvel blockbuster.  With Robert Redford in particular playing his part brilliantly.

All of this doesn't even include my two favourite elements to The Winter Soldier!

The first is the introduction of Falcon.  The MCU has introduced us to Gods, Alien Superpowers and Enhanced Super Soldiers.  The closest to a non super hero is Tony Stark.  Although a genius, playboy billionaire and creator of The Iron Man Suit isn't my idea of non super.  Even Black Widow and Hawkeye exhibit some extraordinary abilities, and if Marvel Studios decide to explore their backstories further in stand alone films, I wouldn't be surprised to find some kind of genetic modification or enhancement being introduced by way of differentiation to us mere mortals.  Falcon, however, changes all this.  Before donning his wings we first meet Falcon as Sam Wilson, jogging around The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.  Here he is repeatedly lapped by Captain America, each time Rogers calls 'on your left' to alert Wilson to his passing.  On each pass Sam gets more and more frustrated.  Catching his breath post run, we also see that Sam Wilson is not supporting the trim, muscular physique of Rogers.  From the very beginning we are shown that Sam Wilson is a man, a soldier like many others around the world.  Doing his duty in the hope of making the world a safer and more just place for us to live.  This makes his later heroics all the more special.  You don't need to be superhuman to be a hero in the MCU.

Second is the now familiar Marvel end credit sequence.  Although the word is already out that we will be seeing Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch in The Avengers: Age of Ultron, I really like how they've been introduced at the end of The Winter Soldier.  Their captivity (at one can only assume to be the hands of Hydra) is sympathetic to their 'children of Magneto' backstories.  Is the possibility of an introduction of X-Men into the MCU too much to dream of at this point?

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. picks up the pace

This TV show would have to have done something very wrong for me not to have liked it.  That said, prior to the mid season break, the field was still very much being set.  Since it's return to Channel 4 a few weeks ago, it doesn't seem to have stopped for breath!

I still have this week's episode to watch, but with Skye in a very bad way and Deathlok's introduction I can't wait to see what's going to happen next.

In the last episode we see Skye get shot and Deathlok make his first official appearance, did anyone notice The Incredible Hulk name drop?
When arguing with Ward, Agent Coulson threatens him with cryo-cell guard duty.  Who's cryo-cell, I hear you ask?  Well for those of you who didn't pick up on it, it was Blonsky.

Remember him?  The Abomination was born from a combination of Emil Blonsky and a serum adapted by the military to try and make a super soldier following Bruce Banner's accident and the birth of The Hulk.  In the end he was beaten into submission by Hulk and is now, it would seem, chilling out in a cryo-cell courtesy of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Knowing that Mark Ruffalo is contracting to more appearances as Bruce Banner and The Hulk, is this the first seeds being sown of a stand alone Hulk movie?  Too much of a stretch you think?  Only time will tell.

Guardians of the Galaxy finally gets it's trailer...

What better way to start than by letting you watch this glorious trailer (again)...

After getting their first full length trailer aired on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Tuesday night, you'd be hard pushed to still be in the dark about Guardians of the Galaxy.

Scheduled for release later this year, Guardians of the Galaxy represents the first significant step into the unknown since the MCU gained centre stage back in 2008 with the cinematic release of Iron Man.  I'm aware that all characters within the MCU require a certain suspension of disbelief.  Also that this was tested, some might say, to it's limit when Thor took us on a whistle stop tour of his nine realms in The Dark World.  There we were subjected to multiple alien races, fighting wars on far off planets.  Even Aether toting Dark Elf Malekith, played by Christopher Eccleston.

One thing all of them has shared up to now, is an Earth in peril, and a hero/team of heroes fighting to save our bacon.  It's safe to say that we're going to need to be a little more open minded on this one.  The clue might be in the word galaxy.

Even though the appearance of Benicio del Toro gives us our tie back into the MCU as we currently know it, I for one am very keen to see where Marvel Studios runs with this one.  If Guardians is a hit, the world (or galaxy) becomes Marvel Studios' oyster.  Forget The Avengers and Phase 3, this has the potential to go way past that.

Glean what you will from the trailer, as many already have.  I just intend to sit back and enjoy the ride!

From desert island to the MCU

Having burst onto our screens in 2004 as Kate Austen in Lost, Evangeline Lilly didn't seem to focus on turning small screen success into big screen roles.

Following the shows finale in 2010, Evangeline starred in Real Steel as Bailey Tallet (2011), having previously had a small part in The Hurt Locker (2008) as Jeremy Renner's wife.  It seems, however, that the aim has merely been quality rather than quantity.  Last year she made a welcome return to our screens in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.  Here she played Tauriel, and Elven warrior.  A character who will make a return this year in the final instalment, The Hobbit: There And Back Again.

Now, the rumour mill has fired up with news of meetings and talks with Marvel Studios.  The thinking being that she will be joining Paul Rudd and Michael Douglas in Ant-Man.  Slated for 2015 this is the start of Marvel's MCU Phase 3, and is being helmed by Edgar Wright.

We know that Michael Douglas is going to be Hank Pym, and Paul Rudd will be Scott Lang/Ant Man.  Which led initially to the thinking that she would play Janet Van Dyne, aka Wasp.  This would fit nice and snug with the Ant-Man story, as well as giving us another member of The Avengers in time for the 3rd Avengers film.

When Ant-Man was first announced and Edgar Wright was unveiled as director, there was speculation that Mary Elizabeth Winstead may join the project, and that she may have taken on the role of Wasp.  Nothing further came of it, and this may now be dead in the water.

Another rumour is that we could see the introduction of Spider-Woman.  As a character who has ties, not only to Ant-Man, but to S.H.I.E.L.D and HYDRA, this might not be so far off the mark.  Talk of rights ownership immediately surfaced due to Sony owning the rights to Spider-Man.  I can't imagine it being an issue though, even though similarly named, they are different characters.  Unless their rights are somehow tied together in a way that we don't know about.

Either way, it looks as though Evangeline Lilly may be the latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Fingers crossed.

Captain America comes of age...

We've had the new trailer for Captain America: The Winter Soldier for a few days now.  In case you haven't seen it yet though, here it is...

You may notice the new outfit worn by Steve Rogers.  There was always going to be a certain amount of redesign going on for the new film.  Though for me it signifies something of a theme that I feel to be running through the trailer.

Think back to Captain America: The First Avenger with Rogers sporting the red, white and blue of his nation's flag.  Some found the film as a whole jingoistic, and whilst I'm one for finding patriotic chest beating in films nauseating (the flag against the building in The Amazing Spiderman being a prime example), if you can't do it in CAPTAIN AMERICA when can you?! 

Now back to The Winter Soldier trailer and Rogers' new outfit.  Gone are the patriotic colours, replaced by more muted, darker colours.  Only the silver star remaining across his chest.  We also have Robert Redford's character telling Rogers, "to build a better world, sometimes means tearing the old one down...and that makes enemies".  Immediately following this we cut to Nick Fury walking into a room.  This may well be a completely different scene, but add this together with several shots of Rogers looking pensive, thoughtful and uttering the line "I joined S.H.I.E.L.D to protect people" and it looks like you have Rogers considering who his enemies really are?  We know that Rogers had concerns with S.H.I.E.L.D and their development of Hydra weapons in Avengers Assemble, so we already have an element of distrust there.  Gone are the days of World War 2 when it was everyone vs. The Nazis.  The Winter Soldier I hope gives us chance to further explore the complex modern day world of technology and terrorism that Rogers now finds himself in.  A time when the enemy isn't so clearly defined.  All of this will ultimately bring to the fore the characteristic of Captain America that I love best.  He's just a man.  He remembers what it's like to be the little guy, and that's who he's trying to protect, regardless of who that puts him up against.

We haven't even said anything about The Winter Soldier himself yet!  It remains to be seen how true to the Winter Soldier storyline they keep.  The basic idea is straight forward enough to not necessarily need much tinkering with.  If you keep watching until the very end of the trailer, you'll see one thing's for certain.  The Winter Soldier is a bad ass.  In pursuit of The Winter Soldier, Captain America throws himself out of a window onto a rooftop.  He then follows it up with his signature shield throw, and The Winter Soldier simply turns round and catches it out of the air.

April 2014 can't come quick enough...

If it was good enough for The Avengers...

I'm a fan of Marvel, and have a great deal of love for what Disney, Marvel Studios and everyone involved has done in creating MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe).  I'm also a fan of Joss Whedon.  I'd be lying if I said Buffy the Vampire Slayer wasn't a part of my teenage years, and I love Firefly.  So imagine my excitement at the knowledge that these 2 loves were being brought together for Avengers Assemble.  Picture a kid at Christmas, then times it by a very large number.  As well as being an annoyance for Family, Friends and Colleagues, I kept a close eye on how much longer I would have to wait to see Avengers Assemble by using a countdown app on my phone.

So after watching the latest Iron Man 3 trailer (below, for any who haven't seen it yet),

I decided to fire up the old countdown app:

Because where would we be without Iron Man?  Undoubtedly the catalyst for the MCU as we know it today.  Marvel had had big screen outings in the past, as far back as Howard the Duck in 1986.  But even the more notable and recent entries, Spiderman, X-Men, and the Fantastic Four, were insular at best, and only just palatable at worst.  The arrival of Iron Man in 2008 changed the landscape for Marvel completely.  Understandably there were things going on behind the scenes to help things along.  The creation of Marvel Studios new base of operations, the appointment of Kevin Feige, and the systematic recuperation of the rights to all it's now stable characters, among others.

For me, the fan, Iron Man was the signal of a new beginning.  A beginning that has now lead us to this, Iron Man 3 and the start of MCU Phase 2.  Let the count down begin.

p.s. since starting to write this post, the countdown is down to:

6 weeks, 5 days, 22 hours, 38 minutes, 15 seconds

Ant-Man just keeps getting better...

A lovely post appeared on my Twitter feed recently from @SciFiNow.  They'd found an article on IFC.com about Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

http://www.ifc.com/fix/2013/02/spirit-awards-mary-elizabeth-winstead-edgar-wright

Having worked together with Edgar Wright on Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (as Ramona Flowers, pictured above), Mary Elizabeth Winstead expressed her desire to work with him again at a recent awards ceremony.  In particular when asked about his upcoming work on Ant-Man.

Now that Ant-Man is slated for a 2015 release as part of Marvel's 'Phase 3' and post Avengers 2, we're still a long way off getting anything like concrete casting at this point.  But with Marvel being hot property at the moment, they'll be no shortage of interest in the lead roles.  Knowing Winstead's name could be in the mix makes it all the more interesting.

I could see Mary Elizabeth Winstead as The Wasp, couldn't you?

Next on my wish list is Ultron....