Fan Rants

An interesting report from London suggests that the SHIELD Helicarrier will be in the avengers movie.  When asked about the appearance of the helicarrier in a animated short film unveiled at Madame Tussauds in London, the film’s director Joshua Wexler had this to say:

“Certain things like the S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier were made more modern than in the comics in order to fit in with designs they are working on for the Avengers movie.”

So it looks like we will likely see the helicarrier in the new movie.
Also making an appearence in that animated short was Ms. Marvel. When asked about whether Mr. Wexler thought she would be in the upcoming movie as well, he apparently replied “maybe…” with a wink wink, nudge nudge (knowwhatImean, knowwhatImean).  Take that with a grain of salt, but if it’s true (even if it’s just her flying past real fast after the end credits) then it lends a lot of weight to the rumors of the Skrull being the big baddie in the Avengers movie as Ms. Marvel is a genetic hybrid of Kree and human DNA or something.  The Kree are the Skrull’s big enemy.  If they are in town to “genetically enhance” a human, then you can bet your ball soaked beers that the Skrull are around too.

Then again, this could all just be rumor and none of it matters anyway…

I was lucky enough to attend an Iron Man 2 sneak peek at my local theater. Let’s see if I can sum up my feelings in three words: Holy f*%$ing $h1t!!! This movie is incredible! The personality arc that Tony Stark goes through in this movie alone is great. He starts out very narcissistic and arrogant.

He’s pushing everyone away, even his personal assistant, Pepper Potts, played by Gwyneth Paltrow.  The story starts off by introducing us to the movie’s villain.  We see a huge man with a bottle of vodka in his hands speaking to his father, who, obviously on his death-bed,  is apologizing for not being able to take care of him.  “All I can pass on to you is my knowledge”.  Cut to the huge, drunken , tatted up, russian thug making himself an arc reactor just like the one Tony has. Needless to say this can only end with awesomeness. 

Nick Fury is around too, trying to get Tony to join the Avenger Initiative and also helping him with his health problems.  Tony continues to go on throughout the movie insisting that he doesn’t need them or want to join their team. By the end of the movie, Nick Fury lets it be known that S.H.I.E.L.D. is interested in Iron Man… But not Tony Stark.

There’s a phenomenal scene in the movie where Natasha Romanoff, played by Scarlett Johansson, and Happy Hogan, played by Jon Favreau, break into Hammer Industries on the hunt for Ivan Vanko (a.k.a. Whiplash) and Happy starts fighting with the first guy through the door.  It’s a real battle back and forth and we’re not sure who’s going to win.  In the mean time, it turns out that Natasha can kick some serious ass.  She takes out about 20 guys with class and style.  Happy finally knocks his guy out, turns, and exclaims “Hey!!! Look at that!!! I got him!!” just before he focuses on the carnage Natasha left in the hallway.

In the end, Tony has come full circle. He even acknowledges this when reading the report prepared by Natasha about him by stating “yeah, but that was last week” when they are talking about his bad attitude. 

A word on the cast: Everyone did exceedingly well in this movie.  I could do without the Pepper Potts character.  She seems pointless to just about everything.  There wasn’t even a hint of her being a “love interest” until the end of the movie.  Don’t get me wrong, Gwyneth Paltrow did a fine job playing her, the character just seemed moot.

Sam Rockwell was brilliant as Justin Hammer, Tony Stark’s top rival.  He came off as a rich jerk most of the time, but there were some moments where you almost felt sorry for him and his uncoolness.  He even does the Howard Dean “WOOOOO” at one point.

Mickey Rourke made what could have been a cheesy villain in Whiplash and made him cool.  He oozed confidence.  Hell, every time he was beaten he says “heh heh heh…. you lose”.

Don Cheadle really stepped into the role of James Rhodes/War Machine and made it his own.  The interaction between him and Robert Downey Jr. felt natural and was hilarious. There’s even a great fight scene between Iron Man and War Machine!

Sam Jackson is great as Nick Fury.  I love the way Marvel is slow burning its way to the Avengers movie.  I really enjoyed the way they took the focus off Tony Stark and Iron Man for just a fleeting moment when Nick Fury says “I’ve got bigger things than you to worry about right now” followed by a dramatic pause.

And finally, Robert Downey Jr. as Tony “I am the Iron Man” Stark.  This was another great performance by Mr. Downey Jr.  There’s not a lot different about the character of Tony Stark between the last movie and this one for most of the movie.  It’s not really until the end when you realize the journey he’s made.

In the end, this is a movie about a guy who flies around in a mechanical suit of armor with a giant hole in his chest for a battery.  If you can’t suspend your disbelief beyond that, then maybe this isn’t the movie for you.  I didn’t even have a huge problem with how Tony fixed his health problem.  Health problem? Yeah, go see the movie.

Finally, sit your butt down for the whole credits to catch an ever so slight look towards the next Marvel movie.

Last weekend at C2E2 I was lucky enough to meet Joel Watson from the Hijinks Ensue webcomic. I have been a fan for years and read their comic daily so it was a real treat for me.

Today’s comic is based around the news that Joss Whedon has been confirmed as the director of the Marvel Comics film The Avengers. He is also going to be doing re-writes on that film and Captain America. Obviously Joel captured many of our trepidation of this news.

Well it looks like Marvel has found their director for the upcoming Avengers film, Joss Whedon! I can just hear all the Buffy fans and Browncoats yipping in glee right about now.

Deadline New York reports that Marvel Studios is in final negotiations with Joss to direct the biggest Superhero film of all time. The film is going to be fast tracked for release May of 2012. Right now we are expecting Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and maybe the Hulk (Edward Norton).

This is an interesting choice, considering that Joss is better known for character creation and writing than he is for directing. But he has had some great success with the Marvel line over the last few years, in particularly the X-Men franchise with The Astonishing X-Men.

Frankly I was hoping he would take on the Runaways movie (not the Joan Jett biopic) coming from Marvel next year.  He was one of the writers for the second volume of this excellent Marvel comics series and definitely his forte with young characters. But I am quite happy to see him taking the lead on this diverse property and wish him the best on this film.

Okay…maybe not so much Wolverine 2, but the rest are going to rock our socks off.

First up we have the Avengers movie hitting theaters May 4, 2012. This will be the grand experiment, bringing together the Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk and Thor franchises together. Sounds like a lot of characters on the big screen, and a lot of ego’s on set.

Next we have Star Trek 2 (or is that Star Trek XII?), taking the coveted July 4th weekend spot with a June 29th release date. This was stated by Paramount Pictures last week. We know from previous news reports that JJ Abrams is working feverishly to get the script completed so he can work on his next project, Mission Impossible IV.

Finally we have the sequel to Wolverine coming Summer of 2012. In an interview last week at the People Choice awards, Hugh Jackman stated that the second film would start filming a year to a year and a half from now. I doubt that they will put the release to close to the Avengers, but at the same time you may want to capitalize on the super-hero fans as much as possible.

Whew…that is a lot of genre for one summer. The fan boys are going to have to get better summer jobs to pay for all those movies!