Tagged: Captain america
Those Old 80’s Marvel Comics….Photo Covers?!!
Man oh man how I love a good comic book cover! So much that I dedicate blog posts as often as possible focusing on my favorite comic book covers of all time. Well I’m not sure if you remember way back in the 1980’s but they had a string of issues where there was no cover artist. Instead they decided that they’d give us some live action superhero action! Now this sounds like a wonderful idea today, but back then it was a bit more difficult to really get the superhero look down on film. However these issues were ones as a kid I never forgot so let’s take another quick look at those legendary Marvel “photo” covers!
5 Reasons Why Netflix Marvel is Better Than Movie Marvel!
I’m really enjoying the latest Marvel Netflix original series ‘Jessica Jones’ and I totally loved Daredevil. It really got me thinking about why these shows seem so far (at least to me) so much better than the Marvel cinematic experience!
After a little thought I decided to nail down my five reasons Marvel should send some of their more popular characters down the same path as Jessica & Matt Murdok!
1.Better Character Development:
It’s clear one of the main reasons why I’ve liked the tv shows more so than the movies is simply because we have so much more time to really get to know the characters inside and out. It can be tough sometimes within only a couple hours to really get a character to the point where you actually understand them and their true motivations without everything feeling a bit rushed.
Netflix gives us the time we need without boring us to really fall in love with the characters. It plays out much more like a comic book taking the time it needs to tell a great story. Some of the Marvel movies simply try and pack way too much shit into too small a time. Not only that but Marvel movies are so concerned with tying everything together between franchises that sometimes you get lost in a big sloppy plot. Imagine for a minute if Captain America would have been a tv series, how much more it would have meant to see Bucky come back as the Winter Soldier after spending a whole season with him and Cap in World Ward II?!
2. Believable Special Effects:
Sometimes when I’m watching a Marvel movie I feel like I’m watching a frikin’ cartoon. There’s soooo much CG and special FX work that it ends up a bit feeling like I’m watching ‘Roger Rabbit’. The Netflix shows have really done a spectacular job with the special effects and they flow nicely alongside the story and the action sequences.
They haven’t required the amount of CG that say The Avengers used but sometimes I really wonder if these big bloated shiny CG stuffed spectacles really need to be telling stories that need that much in the way of FX. More is NOT always better folks and some of these Marvel movies just have NOT aged well and it hasn’t even been that long.
3.Better Villains:
One thing the Marvel movies do NOT have going for them are good villains. The Netflix series works hard at giving us reasons to love and at times really hate the villains. We never really get much in the way of character development for the bad guys in a Marvel movie. Usually they’re just merely there as a reason to see some crazy ass battle go down.
The Netflix series give us the time with the bad guys that we need to really understand them or just really wanna see them get their asses served up. I haven’t once given two shits about any villain in a Marvel movie. And folks your superheroes are only as good as their evil counterparts. So if you ain’t got a good bad guy you ain’t got shit.
4.No Ratings:
Yep, the Marvel movies are all about money and selling boatloads of shit to the kids. Making a killing with merchandise means the movies can never go too dark. However the Netflix Marvel stuff doesn’t have to worry about that, they can cuss, draw blood and have tons of sex if they want to.
The Marvel movies don’t dare go too dark or violent, perhaps that’s one reason why their villains just suck so bad? They’re not allowed to really get all of their evil out onscreen, now imagine the what the Red Skull would have been like in a Netflix series…
5.They Don’t Follow the Marvel Movie Formula:
Let’s all face it, the Marvel movies most definitely have a bit of a tired and predictable formula. I really liked Ant-man but it really felt so “2008”, while watching it’s plot unfold I thought “man we’re really doing this whole thing again?” It felt pretty interchangeable with any other Marvel movies I’ve seen. Good guy gets powers, boring bad guy who has similar powers, cute love interest in danger, big CG fight at end. Blah blah blah..
Or if you’re The Avengers movies you have them all fight a super blah bad guy and then at the end of the movie a big CG slugfest, in a big city, fighting a bunch of similar looking CG clones. The second Avengers movies was really just a retelling of the first, instead of Loki you had Ultron and instead of the hordes of CG Chituari Warriors you had the horde of CG Ultron clones fight at the end in Sokovia instead of New York.
The Netflix shows have broken away from the usual mold at least for the moment and that’s god damn refreshing. Hmm….But then again there is this now:
OMG! Have You Seen the Boring “New” Jeremy Renner Hawkeye Costume?!!
I’ve seen the big hype all over lately about Jeremy Renner’s “new” Hawkeye costume for the upcoming Civil War movie and you know what….so WHAT of if?! If they really wanted to impress us comic book fans they could have done waaaay better than that! When I first saw the headlines I was actually really really excited! In my mind I was fully ready to see this:
Or This:
but in reality something like this most likely:
But instead it was..yawn..this…
Ok so now that picture above isn’t really bad at all, it’s just really nothing new. In fact Isn’t that pretty much what he’s been wearing in every other movie? So everyone please calm down about Hawkeye’s new costume, it’s really nothing to get your undies in a bundle over, at least if you’re a long time fan of the comic book character. Peace!!
Snowpiercer: The Best Science Fiction Flick of the Year?!
I may be late to the party with this one, but I got to see Snowpiercer last night in the theater finally! It’s one helluva flick and I’d really expect nothing less from Boon Joon-ho who also directed the amazing monster movie “The Host” years ago. For one I love movies that take place on trains but this one is certainly not your average adventure on the tracks! This wild ride takes place years after a chemical is released into the atmosphere to solve climate change problems on the Earth, instead it turns the planet into a frigid ball of ice and one man builds his ultimate dream, a fast moving train to house the existing survivors of the ice age. The only problem is that the rich survivors live a lavish life far at the front and the poor are jam packed like sardines to live in filth in the back tail end cars, suffering from brutality and starvation from their higher ups. This situation could only last for so long before a revolt is planned by the poor box car rebels who are lead by none other than Chris “Captain America” Evans, who’s nearly unrecognizable in the role.
Evans finally really gets a chance to prove he’s far more than a Marvel superhero delivering an excellent performance filled with real emotion. I also have to mention his role in this movie is far more ass kicking than anything you’re likely to get from a Disney Marvel movie. It really made me see him in a whole new light and judging from the film’s nearly flawless critical reception it was clearly a great move for him. Cudos to Evans for taking the role.
We’ve got an incredible adventure here, that in a way really has something to say about the divide today between the rich and the poor, all taking place on huge, high speed train that travels continuously across the globe with no plans of ever stopping in fear of the icy otherworld. It’s a crazy idea as the people aboard the Snowpiercer refer to the train as “the world”. What’s most interesting is seeing Evans and his crew fight their way through each car and with each the decor changing and changing dramatically. It’s some of the most stunning visuals I’ve seen in recent times and gives the perfect backdrop to this breath taking tale.
I’ve got to mention the role of Song Kang-ho who’s a personal fave of mine from many other flicks. He plays the ass kicking, drug addict who almost steals the show himself and Tilda Swinton’s villainous role is one that you’re not likely to forget anytime soon either. This movie will also make you look at “protein bars” and forst bite in a whole new light. Bottom line here is you need to go check this out asap, it’s one of the best movies of the year and I hope it busts the door wide open for Boon Joon-ho here in the USA, we need more movies with amazing original ideas like this on the big screen hitting the major theaters, it’s a shame this one got such a small limited release…
Comic Book Cover of the Week! More of Mike Zeck’s Amazing Cap Cover Art!
I personally think that the best Captain America artist of all time is hands down Mike Zeck! Pretty much his whole run on the title in the 80’s features some of the coolest Cap covers of all time, issue #276 is a great example of a great comic book cover! The perspective, the colors are all equally impressive and the comic book itself is a ton of fun! This classic cover features Cap battling some of Baron Zemo’s androids! Is there any way we can get Zeck on board for some current Cap stuff?!
Cinematic Captain America: The Greatest American……..Virgin?!
I’ve been thinking about this since I saw Captain America: The Winter Soldier in theaters, it’s like a big elephant in the room at this point! We just have to address this, the movie Captain America is most definitely still a gosh darn virgin!! Am I wrong?! Nope! Movie Cap was born in 1918 so technically he’s a 96 year old virgin-It’s been three movies that this Cap portrayed by Chris Evans has been in, one being The Avengers and thus far Cap, though quite popular with the ladies since he got his muscles, has gotten ZERO action, aside from a few random smooches! Daaang!
So I think a great plot point of the next Captain America movie must be him finally losing his damn virginity already! I could see this being an incredibly funny moment being discussed by him and his fellow Avengers at a bar over a few beers and I can already imagine a ton of jokes involving Tony Stark, Banner and Thor about this. Now though the bigger question is who’s going to be his first?! Let’s face it Cap is quite the goody two shoes, so he may benefit from a more edgy lady like The Black Widow, or could go old school with Agent Carter (well that might be a bit weird), or maybe he’ll hook up with that SHIELD agent he was talking about?
The Avengers are in serious need of some options for the guy, Black Widow is hot and all but let’s face it she’d tear this momma’s boy’s heart to shreds! Or maybe Cap hasn’t come out of the closet yet?! Maybe he and Bucky will hook up?!! Either way it’s been too many decades for the guy, he’s gotta be feeling some serious sexual frustration at this point with all that super soldier serum pumping him up too, whatever the case he better make sure the big moment is worth the wait….
“Uggh…I can’t focus on a word Fury is saying with this raging boner I’ve had since we made out in that mall earlier!!”
Captain America’s Costume for Lease: The Falcon Joins the Growing List of Cap Wannabes!!
So it seems that ol’ Steve Rogers has got some problems again-as you all probably already know he’ll be passing the mantle of Captain America to he longtime buddy Sam Wilson, formerly The Falcon! Wilson arguably the first black superhero in mainstream comics, originally appearing in the late 1960’s and has been one of Cap’s best friends since. It seems Marvel’s trying to really shake things up there to generate new some interest, most recently, the company announced a new Thor that’d be a female version and also announced that Wolverine would be killed off in the coming months. Of course we all know, Wolverine will be back, Thor will be a man again and Steve Rogers will once again return as Cap, so really there’s nothing to lose here for Marvel, it’s not even a gamble in smallest possible way.
But Man, Steve Rogers has a rough time being Captain America in the modern age doesn’t he? Being killed off in Civil War and having Bucky become the new Cap (I LOVED the Bucky version by the way) and now his super soldier serum being taken from his body?! Dang! Now Steve will operate from behind the scenes sitting at a desk as he’s now an old fogey! Ouch!! Anyway I think it’s a cool idea and I like the fact that the Falcon stepped to the plate to make some Cap history.
From what I hear too is that Wilson won’t be giving up his wings either-a good decision. Plus a winged flying Cap is a cool idea. My question is why realistically would Wilson decide to be Cap when he’s already a legend in his own right? I guess it’d be like if Spider-man died and suddenly The Black Panther decided he was going to be the Spider-man?!
Anyway there have over the years several others who’ve taken the role of Captain America besides Steve Rogers, here’s a list of the Cap wannabes!!
My fave the Bucky Cap…
Then there’s the Isaiah Bradley, version, considered the second incarnation of Cap, he’s also black, sorry Sam …
The there’s William Naslund, also known as “The Spirit of 76”, he’s the 1950’s Cap with Fred Davis the second Bucky… Continue reading
Comic Book Cover of the Week: Jarvis Leads The Avengers?!
Avengers #201 from 1980 has a truly memorable cover by George Perez & Terry Austin! It’s not often you see Jarvis showcased as the lead in any comic book much less and Avengers issue. This however features the legendary butler ready to action telling the Avengers to “stand back”! So just what is it that Jarvis feels is a job only he can handle? Well it turns out that he takes on an adult bully named “Bruiser” while he visits his mother! Bruiser is terrorizing her neighborhood when Jarvis decides to take matters into his own hands. Yep Jarvis finally gets his own arch nemesis which he makes short work of! I always liked the Jarvis character and it’s too bad they decided to make him an “operating system” to Tony Stark in the movies. Perhaps they were afraid he’d just come off as a cheap version of Batman’s Alfred? Also, Captain America kinda pisses me off as on the cover of issue #201 he’s clearly laughing at Jarvis-what a dick!! Show some respect Rogers!
The Avengers 2 gets Thanos…yawn…The Avengers 3: Top 5 Villains Wishlist!
It’s been confirmed today that Thanos will be the official villain for both The Avengers 2 and The Guardians of the Galaxy. Seriously both movies?! That’s a double dose of one of my least favorite Avengers villains ever! Uggh….I know everyone loves the Infinity Gauntlet but well to me I have always thought Thanos was a rather lackluster villain. He’s like DC’s Darseid only not as cool. I really was hoping that we’d get something different from the second Avengers movie, maybe even save this Thanos thing for the third movie as it seems inevitable that they’d have to make that storyline go somewhere.
I guess the whole cosmic Avengers and X-men stories for some reason have been my least favorite. But hey people fucking love shit when it’s in space, Jason, Hellraiser and god damn Leprechaun all made it into space right? Personally I always liked a more personal earthly threat, though I loved The Avengers I thought it’s villain/villains were a bit flawed and to be quite honest rather dull. The next installment I think needs an awesome cast of villains to deliver on levels and not only challenge the Avengers but really hurt them on more than just a physical level. I just don’t think Thanos is the man for the job. If it were up to me we’d see something like this for the third film:
1. Baron Zemo & The Masters of Evil:
To me having Zemo and The Masters of Evil would be the most perfect story for the next film. Not only do things get heated with these guys and The Avengers they downright dirty! If you don’t believe me just read The Avengers: Under Seige storyline, in my opinion the best Avengers story ever. With the Masters you also get a boatload of major villains that would be amazing to see on the big screen!
2. Doctor Doom:
This guy is easily one of the greatest villains ever!! Seriously everyone hates this guy, from Spidey, to Cap, to the Fantastic Four to yeah The Avengers! Seriously Marvel don’t waste your time saving him for yet another crappy ass Fantastic Four flick. Do him right-save him for the third film at least. Just let him be the ultimate Marvel villain he’s destined to be…Put him up against The Avengers!!
3. The Leader and his Gamma Crew:
So for The Avengers we got Thor’s ultimate villain Loki in the spotlight and personally he didn’t cut the cake for me! So why not bring a major Hulk villain to the table? We already got a glimpse of Samuel Sterns in the Norton Hulk film, so why not bring him into The Avengers 3? He could bring along a team of gamma freaks to take on the team also. The return of a further mutated Abomination (looking more like the comic book version), the evil gamma zombie Half-life, The Harpy, even the Bi-beast could be part of his crew….and of course his rubbery pink henchmen would have to be in it as well!
4. Modok:
He was rumored as a possible villain in one of the upcoming movies already, but this freak would be the perfect villain for an Avengers movie. Imagine how horrific this guy would look on the big screen! Plus he rules over A.I.M. and they’d be the perfect threat against Shield & the team. So let’s get this weirdo on the big screen because he’s sure to put some real fear into movie goers hearts!
5. Ultron:
Now this guy could be quite possibly the coolest most ruthless Avenger’s villain of them all! Leave it to Hank Pym to fuck shit up for the team because in the third movie (assuming he appears in the second film) he could introduces his greatest creation Ultron to the world! Yeah and then shortly after Ultron goes berserk and decides that the world must be rid of humans and become completely cybertronic! A simple concept that potentially threatens the entire planet. imagine all of awesome robotic creatures the Avengers could face off against! Plus they’d have to include Jocasta to The Avengers roster-the hottest robot of all time!!
Comic Book Cover of the Week! Deathlok LIVES!
Everybody knows that back in the 1980’s cyborgs were ALL the rage! So naturally one of my favorite classic covers comes from Mike Zeck on Captain America #286 from 1983! Since Deathlok has had a sort of new popularity since he appeared in X-force I thought I’d show this today as proof that no one can top Mike Zeck when it comes to covers! We need this guy back Marvel!!
Universal Dork 