AVENGERS DIS-ASSEMBLE : HOW DOES THE MARVEL UNIVERSE CARRY ON AFTER THE AVENGERS?

BY @hmsbeefnuts

You’ve see The Avengers by now, maybe more than once, I know I have. It was great, amazing, everything that it should have been and more. Quite simply, it was an unbelievable feat of planning and execution. Marvel deserve to be praised to Asguard for what they have accomplished. But their great success also creates problems, namely, in a universe where many superheroes exist, and have proven that they can work together, why wouldn’t they help each other all the time? Why would Ironman or Captain America ever have to face a threat on their own, now that they can call on an Avenger team mate to help them out? If Red Skull comes back to threaten the world, why wouldn’t Cap call in Tony Stark to lend a hand? It is a bit of a problem, but I think there are ways around it.

In the next few years we will be enjoying Thor 2, Ironman 3, Captain America 2 and perhaps, due to the fact he totally owned the Avengers, another Hulk film. All these films will, I imagine, lead up to an Avengers sequel, and if you stayed to see the post credits sequence from the first film, well, you know that shit is going to go down. I am by no means a Marvel expert, but I have loved these series of films, and here is my chance to discuss how I would like to see these films go in the future, and how I think the single hero problem can be resolved.

Ironman 3 is going to be the next Marvel film, and Ben Kingsley is rumoured to be playing the Mandarin. If this is so, it would pay off on the Ten Rings terrorist organisation from the original Ironman. Thor has already brought ‘magic’ into the Marvel Universe, and so at this point, The Mandarin and his magic rings are not too far fetched. If Tony faces off against the Mandarin, I think he could do with some advice, perhaps an expert in the magical arts could be sourced out, perhaps by SHIELD, one Dr. Steven Strange. An extended cameo from the Sorcerer Supreme would be all that is needed to introduce audiences to a wider universe. Also, out friend from the post credits sequence could also be involved in some way, using more earthly foes to find the weaknesses of Tony Stark. The film could end with Ironman triumphant, having made a new friend, but not defeating the hidden puppet master…

 

Captain America 2 could take place in the same time period as Ironman 3. This would cover the fact that these two Avengers, although facing global threats, do not seek help from each other, they have their own problems to deal with. Likewise, I would set Thor 2 and Hulk during the same period, with our mysterious enemy pulling the strings of the foes that each Avenger faces in their sequels. In Cap 2, I would include Hawkeye and Black Widow, at least in some of the movie. Captain America feels like he would work far more closely with SHEILD, perhaps against Baron Zemo, or a resurrected Red Skull and HYDRA. Whilst this is going on, and Stark is fighting Mandarin, Bruce Banner is in a Stark Industries R&D lab in Africa.

The sequel to the Hulk is most tricky of all, and I think that the Hulk works best when he has someone to play off with. Can I suggest Hank Pym, and his wife? Pym is of course Antman, but is also the Scientist Supreme and has many other powers and interesting facets apart from talking to ants. Pym and Banner could be working on nano-technology that will better help Banner to control, or perhaps, educate his savage alter ego. Whilst in Africa a mysterious energy source can be found in the hidden kingdom of Wakanda, introducing soon to be Avenger Black Panther. A power source that is pricking the interest of more than earthly forces. The Citauri can be at work in Wakanda laying the ground work for another, more successful invasion of Earth using the power source. Luckily Hulk, Pym and Black Panther are on hand to stop things. Nick Fury can show up in the end to inform Hulk et al that they are once again needed, as a messenger from Asguard bring grim news. Thor has had his own problems in Asguard.

Loki can take a break from big bad guy duties in Thor 2. I think that the mysterious Avengers puppet master could reveal himself fully in Thor 2, which would take place entirely off Earth, in Asguard and other worlds. The big bad, could attack Asguard, in revenge for Loki’s poor performance, and as he realises that the Asguardians are a dangerous foe that must be wiped out first. I would have Thor 2 end on a downer, with Asguard all but destroyed and the enemy triumphant, the Asguardian Royal family, and Thor’s friends taken in chains, and Thor managing to escape to Earth to warn SHEILD of the greater threat to Earth that is heading their way, referred to in the post credits sequence of Hulk.

Avengers 2 would then kick off with all our regular heroes assembling to face this intergalactic threat which has already defeated Asguard. Added to the roster Black Panther, Dr. Strange, Hank Pym and Wasp. Avengers 2 could end with the group infighting about a new Government act for the registration of Super humans. This would lead up to a third Avengers movie, which follows the events of the graphic novel Civil War. Now this is just one way that things could pan out, and I’m sure that it won’t be the right way. It would solve the single hero problem though, if all the heroes were otherwise engaged in separate battles. That’s my two cents worth, what do you think?

Avenging April: What All The Fuss Was About: Avengers Assessments

By @hmsbeefnuts

Thursday afternoon, April 26^th , I watched The Avengers, it was around 3 hours ago now that the film finished, and I’m still buzzing from the spectacle. Rest assured that The Avengers is very very good indeed. Everything that the previous 5 Marvel films promised, has been fulfilled by what is quite simply one of the most spectacular films that I have ever seen. Now I know I’m still buzzing from the film, a lot of what I type may be new film glaze, but I don’t think so. I will be seeing the film again on Saturday, this time in IMAX 3D, and I can’t wait, but we shall see if the aura of the Avengers will diminish the second time. I seriously doubt it.

I will not spoil plot points or secrets with you here, I think it’s only fair if you experience it all yourself, and there are plenty of reviews to read around the web anyway full of spoilers. Also, I’m not the kind of fan boy who wants to declare a winner of the summer, I’m not going to decry Amazing Spider-man, or The Dark Knight Rises. The Avengers may be the most spectacular film this summer, especially for comic fans, but I’m sure The Dark Knight is going to be equally as great, and Amazing Spider-man, well, here’s hoping. What I will say is, if you have ever enjoyed a Marvel film, then go and see this on the big screen, it needs to be seen big, and loud, do not wait for Blu-ray, DVD, or TV.

 

As my oldest mate and I sat in the cinema before hand, I was slightly apprehensive. Could this film live up to my incredibly high expectations? I needn’t have worried, Avengers delivered, and delivered big. If I can interject here with a point. This is the kind of film that is best enjoyed with your friends, or loved ones. Go see it in a big group, go see it with your childhood friend, go see it with your kids or little brother and sister. There are few things I enjoy more than seeing a brilliant film with a mate, a girlfriend, my Mum, or Dad, Avengers is that kind of film. It is a visual expression of childhood glee, it is every game you played in the playground, arguing over who would be Thor, or The Hulk. I can’t believe that Marvel and Joss Whedon pulled it off, something that should have been very hard, almost impossible.

All the heroes get their moment to shine, even those with out powers. Whedon pulls off the group dynamic perfectly. These heroes aren’t friends, they argue, they fight, but when it comes to the crunch, they pull together and kick some major bad guy ass. I don’t know what my favourite bit was, there were so many. Hulk and Thor, Hulk and Loki, Cap and Agent Coulson, any time Tony Stark is on screen. It would have been easy to turn this into Ironman 3, or the Tony Stark show, but it is not that at all.

The Hulk could be the star, certainly, I felt that he had many of the greatest moments. The BEST Hulk in anything ever, there simply has to be a Hulk sequel with this Hulk, he was awesome. The CGI was incredible, and suitably epic. I’m finding it very hard to talk about things without spoiling stuff, so I will try to not go on for too long. I can’t wait to see where the Marvel films go next, now that The Avengers are established, I can’t wait to see an Ironman 3, Thor 2, Cap 2 and Hulk 2 (3?), and a sequel to The Avengers. Marvel have done something incredible with these films, a fan boys wet dream. Right now I would say that this is my favourite Marvel film, overtaking Captain America, but a second, third and fourth viewing will confirm this. As for now, all I can say is that The Avengers is worth your money, worth your time and worth your attention. DC should be taking notes from Marvel. I want to see a Justice League movie that is this good. I want to see Batman, Green Lantern and Superman working together as well as Ironman, Cap and Hulk. With Nolan’s take on Batman coming to an end, and a reboot for the Bat franchise probably in the works, now is the time to lay the foundations of a Justice League team up movie. I liked Green Lantern, I have high hopes for Man of Steel, lets hope DC can do as good a job as Marvel, even though they seemingly have a harder task, with DC heroes being slightly harder to translate.

Writing this has made me want to go and see it again. I can’t wait until Saturday. The Summer is shaping up to be epic. The Avengers is a hard act to follow, but I can’t wait to see what Marvel has in store.

Avenging April: Avengers Movie Marathon Part 1

By @hmsbeefnuts

Avenging April keeps on Assembling here at All Geek To Me, we are close now, very close, and it is more than a little exciting. As a lead up to the big event on April 27^th, I have decided to go back, dip into my Blu-ray collection, and watch all of Marvels Avenger based films, in sequence; in order to drive me into fits of excitement and refresh my memories of said films. I chose to watch the films in the order they were released, Kicking off with Ironman, The Incredible Hulk, Ironman 2, Thor and last, but certainly not least Captain America. Before we start, I would like to say that I watched all of these movies theatrically, and I had not seen some of them since. I enjoyed all of them the first time I saw them, and I was looking forward to seeing if they held up.

I had originally wanted to watch all the films back to back, but having a life and the need to do other stuff prevented this. I think if you have the patience to watch all these films back to back, good luck to you, and perhaps if I had booked a few days off I could have done it, in the end, it took three sittings, not because I was bored or anything like that, but just because of time constraint. As such, I managed to watch Ironman and the Hulk in one sitting, Ironman 2, and then finally Thor and Captain America. I will say that all these films work wonderfully together, and that although incredibly ambitious, Marvel has pulled off an amazing feat of film making, lets hope that they can reach the next step, and knock The Avengers out of the park, surely they have done so? Right, on with the marathon…

IRONMAN

A great way to kick off the marathon. I love Ironman. Jon Favreau hit the mark with this one, and set up the Marvel universe at he same time. Ironman hasn’t aged at all, and in fact, stands up far better than its mish mash sequel, but more on that later. Tony Stark is a weapons manufacturer, who learns a harsh lesson when a terrorist group, The Ten Rings, kidnap him and force him to make a Stark Industries Jericho Missile. Oh, and during his abduction, he is almost fatally wounded, and left with shards of metal worming their way to his heart. A revolutionary Arc Reactor later, as well as a pretty cool metal suit of armour, decked out with flame throwers and rocket boosters, and Tony is on his way home, and to a very different life.

The sense of fun in this movie is palpable, the Stan Lee cameo, mistaken for Hugh Heffner at a party. Downey Jnr. Is a fantastic Stark, cocky, sure of himself, but very very likeable. When we actually get to see Ironman in his Mark III armour, its an exciting and breathtaking spectacle. Bad guy duties are well played by Jeff Bridges, as Ironmonger, and Tony’s partner. Supporting roles are well cast too, Fav’s as Happy Hogan, Gwyneth Paltrow in her best role in ages as Pepper Potts and Terrance Howard as James Rhodes, as well as a few Agents of Shield. The impressive thing is that even at this point, Marvel were building up to The Avengers, a project that must have seemed a long way off at the time.

Ironman is one of the strongest superhero films, and at this point, one of my favourites. The Blu-ray pops off the screen and I very much enjoyed watching it again after quite some time. The film flies by, and what is after the credits? Oh. Hello Nick Fury, what?!? I remember watching that moment for the first time, mind blowing. I literally can not wait for April 27^th right now. Anyway, enthusiasm is high, time to change discs…

THE INCREDIBLE HULK

Of course Marvel did try to make a Hulk film before this one, and it was absolute shit. Hulk dogs? Ergh. The Incredible Hulk is a far better film, and even though I’m no fan of Ed Norton, or Liv Tyler, this part sequel, part re-boot is a fun ride. The Stan Lee Cameo? A man who drinks some soda infused with Bruce Banners blood, leading to an unfortunate Gamma related incident, genius. The film kicks off with a credits sequence explaining how Bruce became the Hulk, basically a quick rehash of some events from the first film, and perfectly acceptable. The film proper kicks off with Bruce Banner on the run in a favela in Brazil. He is trying to find a cure, and working in a bottling plant. He is also trying to control his heart rate, and thus, stop the Hulk from appearing. The gamma incident mentioned above leads General Thunderbolt Ross to his location, and sends a crack team, including soldier of fortune Emile Blonsky after Banner. A chase through the favela, a few anger making incidents, and Blonsky gets a good look at Banner alternative form.

Blonsky gets General Ross to inject him with a ‘super soldier serum’, which hasn’t been used for a very long time, wonder where they got that from? Round two ends with Blonsky near death, but by the end of the film, a dose of Gamma makes Blonsky a far more powerful opponent.

 

Hulk is a bit of a change of pace. At its heart, it is a sad story of a man who can not control his destiny, can’t be with the woman he loves, can’t live a normal life. Thankfully the meat of the film has quite a lot to do with Hulk smashing stuff, and I thought the effects held up very well. This adds to the Marvel universe by having Tony Stark meet with General Ross at the end of the film, to talk about some sort of super team thing, I wonder what he could mean? We also learn that by the end of the film, Bruce has learned to control the Hulk, and can seemingly change whenever he wants, Might come in handy if an alien force invades New York, or something.

It is also worth noting that on the Thor Blu-ray there is a Marvel One Shot, called The Consultant. A meeting between Agent Coulson and another Shield Agent, discussing an directive from above about perhaps trying to enlist Blonsky, or at least his new form, to join The Avenger Initiative. However, it seems they aren’t too keen for him to join, they decide that they need to send The Consultant to talk to General Ross, as he is rude, cocky and will not be listened too. Of course they are talking about Tony Stark, and this is why he turns up at the end of The Incredible Hulk. There plan seems to work, and Blonsky remains under lock and key, I’m sure they will be able to find some other hulking green monster to join their team. I like what Marvel did here, just filled in a little bit of story, the One Shots are a fun little extra. This one also seems to suggest that the event of the Hulk take place concurrently with certain events that occur in New Mexico, interesting.

IRONMAN 2

A days break and we reconvene for Marvel’s first major sequel. Ironman 2 is a bit of a mess to be honest. Thanks mainly to the fact the script wasn’t fully written during filming, however, that’s not to say the film isn’t very good, it is, it just doesn’t quite reach the heights of Ironman. Right, Stan Lee Cameo, this time he is introduced to Tony as Larry King, a nice little nod to the first films cameo. This time, Stark is established as Ironman now, and is responsible for a long period of world peace, however, not all is going well. The government want his suits, the arc reactor is slowly killing him, and the son of a former partner of his father, Howard Stark, has developed his own arc reactor, and has a vendetta against Tony. I fight at the Monaco Grand Prix, goes Tony’s way, however, it also puts our new big bad in contact with another arms manufacturer, Justin Hammer, which will no doubt cause trouble for the Invincible Ironman.

Tony also loses one of his suits in a fight with his best mate James Rhodes, soon to be War Machine. Pepper Potts is now CEO of Stark Enterprises, giving Tony time to work on a new arc reactor, that will not kill him. Oh did I mention Nick Fury is more prominent in the sequel, a scene at a doughnut shop is particularly good. Stark Enterprises also has a new employee who may become more important later. Natasha Romanov, AKA, Black Widow is moonlighting as an assistant, and also kick a fair amount of ass, and looking absolutely beautiful whilst she does it. Ironman 2 has a lot going on, perhaps too much, but it does come to a satisfying conclusion.

Once again, Ironman is left to face a group of Hammer Drones, and a very pissed off Whiplash, thankfully, War Machine is with him to lend a hand. Ironman 2 isn’t as confident as it’s prequel, but it is still a lot of fun and very exciting. What Ironman 2 does best is strengthen the Marvel Universe, this is very much a set up film for The Avengers, with nice little nods to Captain America, a few members of the Avengers that won’t appear in the film, and most importantly, in the post credits sequence, Agent Coulson makes his way to New Mexico, and finds an item that might be of use to a certain Norse God. Probably the worst of the Marvel films, although I still enjoyed it immensely, Ironman 2 works better as a tease for what is to come…

So that’s it for part 1 of my Avengers Movie Marathon. Join me later in the week for Part 2, where we will be watching Thor and Captain America.