So, with this post ends the Superhero themed month. There are a lot of films I have seen. Before I was into anime I was into comics, before I was into comics I was into films, a lot. I but although I do not remember all the films I have seen, a fair amount and very few where superhero films. To make this a little interesting, although there are not many that come to mind and some I only saw once, while others I wish to see so they are not on this list (Kick Ass). So, same old same old without further ado let’s get started.
So, I think by the quasi misleading picture that has nothing to do with Marvel and say that for once Shirou is right. People die if they are killed. Now, why am I admitting he is correct, and just because he is correct doesn’t mean he is right. Well it is simple. If anyone read the discussion from last week with Agents of Shield deals with Coulson living. So, before I go on, this will contain spoilers for Age of Ultron.
Again this will contain Age of Ultron spoilers.
So, with that said and the main focus at some point will be people dying, well, let us get started for real.
Alright, I am going to talk at least about my thoughts on this film universe as a whole before bleeding into other things.
Although I took this picture later, I still forgot to count them, sill me. Also there are other series under the Iron Man and Cap ones.
Marvel Fan boy, obviously I am going to say I like it. I did not really know much about comics when Hulk and Iron Man came out in 2007. Although I read Runaways, which ironically is inspired by manga concepts, I really did not start reading and paying attention to concepts in comics until 2010, when Avengers Earth’s Mightiest Heroes came out which made me get Marvel Masterworks Avengers volume 1. Which although is a cartoon, it can definitely be a show that older fans can watch and be entertained. That Masterwork contained the original 10 comics of the Avengers from the 1960s. Getting those really got me into comics, since I got about 21 different volumes of those, at least as far as I can tell with my poor eyesight from my bed looking at them across the room.
Anyway, although it would not be me without tangents, time to get back on focus. So, with this in mind I really do like the series of films. Now for those that do not know. Spiderman films have not existed in the Cinematic universe, until the next one in 2017 now that Sony and Marvel are working together. X-Men and Fantastic Four are owned by Fox and do not have any plans of working together anytime soon. The reason there has not been another Hulk solo film is on one hand he does not make a good solo film, and Universal still owns the rights to Hulk solo films and does not really want to make more.
So, with that basic idea known, time to focus on the ones that are just in the Cinematic to date. I really like the approach. I think that is simple enough. At the same time each gives off their own feeling and does not necessarily need to feel like a superhero film. Captain America works great as an espionage film, Guardians of the Galaxy worked great as a space opera, and in all honesty it sort of felt like it could have been just another sci-fi film, since it was so far away from really any sign of the Cinematic Universe with the exception of Thanos and the Infinity stones. Ant Man will probably feel between mixes of espionage sci-fi and heist movie. Personally I cannot wait.
Alright, so time to focus on the big problem in this film series. There are two to be exact. The first being it is expanding way to fast. For example Agents of Shield, as I mentioned last week and Captain America Winter Soldier cannot be watched without spoiling the other. There are things like this and in some cases it feels like you need to watch all the solo films to get to know who the characters really are, since Josh Whedon did not do the greatest with Cap in Age of Ultron since most of his lines were a single line before someone else talked.
Anyway, back to what the images above dictate and as I said this will contain spoilers. No one dies really. The amount of people who either faked their death, or thought to be killed, or where brought back, are more than the people that actually died.
Loki is either thought to of died or fakes his death a total of three times in his three appearances. Nick Fury faked his death and Coulson was brought back from the dead. Several other characters that were thought to be dead were not. Iron man was thought to of died twice. Bucky, and I don’t think I need to say much more about that. Anyway, and last chance for spoilers. But Petro aka Quicksilver although he was never referred to that in Age of Ultron was killed. So I will not be surprised if he is brought back.
Time for the people that died and stayed dead, all three Iron man villains, that is it. Red Skull more than likely did not die since he probably was taken by the Cosmic Cube, which has been known to create things, into some other dimension.
Anyway, the fact that anyone that dies is brought back or fakes their death kind of makes it feel like death is pointless in these movies. If, and if Petro really is dead permanently, well I think they nailed it well. At the same time with how everyone was either faking or brought back well, it will take another death before death has meaning in this movie universe, which is a main problem that I see with it.
That is all I really have to say. At least for now. I am sure that after Ant Man has been out for a while I will post my thoughts on that, and maybe talk about Daredevil soon as well at some point.
I am going to end it on the note that Marvel is awesome, and the Fate Stay Night character obviously does not belong to them and is there to prove a point and provide a bumper for spoiler warning.
I was thinking of Making the Secret Wars mini series a episodic review for each issue, but I think I will do a discussion post for two or three of them at a time.
As always if you have any suggestions feel free to make them, really looking for more comic related ones for things to do here.
In all honesty I was debating on whether to do this one or the Marvel Cinematic Universe discussion first, but this series is more than likely less known to people who just watch the films and I figured I will start here before branching off into the Marvel Cinematic Universe Discussion.
I will say this as well before I begin, but this will contain spoilers for all Marvel films, this includes Age of Ultron, possibly, as well as the more obvious Agents of Shield, which the season just recently ended. So, you have been warned.
Alright, with this month being superhero themed, mostly due to the fact Age of Ultron came out, here is the first post half way through the month that deals with this theme. I was a comic book fan way before I was ever into anime and manga, so I when making this blog I wanted to make it about that stuff too, well I only got 1 posts, well 2 now, out of a little over 100 dedicated to anime and manga. Good news is I have several things planned to go with this month, so there is that. Also with the fact that this Top Five was supposed to come out last week, but a 12 page paper said otherwise this will be a double Top Five. I will be counting down 5 different superheroes and 5 different villains. I would like to add since I am not really into DC Comics, there will be little perhaps none on this list that relate to it, sorry Marvel fan boy is here writing this. I am also doing this different from my last double top five, which was all the way back in January, where it will be two separate lists.
This is rather odd, since most, as in all, of my content here so far has been mostly anime or manga related. The only other discussion would be the Legend of Korra Finally. However, before my anime habits, and before I was into anime in general, I read comics. My story, those of the people that might have stumbled here from my deviantart account know that I write stories dealing with superheroes. Although the one on diveiantart is more superhero like in the sense that they are in story arcs, and there is no major sort of over arcing villain. This is different in the series I want to get published, where there is one and there are no little story arcs. Enough about my shameless self-promotion, what I am trying to say is I like comics and superheroes.
I have been getting comics since the Fear Itself event back in 2011. I am not a fan of DC Comics, although the movies are hit and miss. So, if you are looking for DC Comic related, well clearly this will be the wrong place. I have been seeing superhero movies for what feels like forever. But this discussion will be aimed at the recent reveal of what the event for this year entails for Marvel.
So, a little back story about Secret Wars is that it happened before. In fact two of them happened before. They were both events that happened back in the 1980s. I am going off of just memory and memory alone for what I know about it. The only thing that I do know is that there is this place known as Battleworld, where the heroes and villains of the Marvel universe clashed due to the Beyonder wanting it to happen. Also this was where Spiderman got the Symbiotic Suit that later turned into Venom. That is all that really needs to be known about it, at least that I know about it.
Anyway, in the current Avengers and New Avengers series events have been happening across the multiverse that has been causing Earth, since it is obviously the focal point, to clash within eight hours with another universes Earth. So if nothing is done in those eight hours both Earths will be destroyed. If something is done, then only one Earth shall remain. The smartest minds in the Marvel Universe have been trying to find a way to stop this and well, they failed to do so.
The writers at Marvel for this event have stated that Marvel Universe, 616, and Marvel’s Ultimate Universe, I believe is 612, will clash and be destroyed in the first issue of Secret Wars. So in other words everything that has happened in the last fifty or so years in the main Marvel universe is now going to be gone.
Now, I have seen comments about this, most in which are really hoping this is not some elaborate reboot. Personally I really hope it is not. Right now, I am really curious and worried what might happen.
This discussion is mostly just speculation and hope really for what is to come. One, seeing that I follow the Spiderman series, and one thing that is going to be happening is Spiderman will be back together with Mary Jane, personally I do not like that. I started reading in Superior Spiderman, and now with the new series introducing Silk, I want to see those two stay together over the overly known Peter Parker and Mary Jane relationship.
So, I really think that this is just going to be a way to rewrite a lot of things back in, like Captain America not losing his Super Soldier Serum, although I do like Falcon as the new Captain America. Another thing is un-killing Wolverine, un-killing Professor Xavier, Deadpool as well since he is being killed off in April. So, I really hope this is not just some fancy way of getting those characters back. At the same time the Ultimate Universe as of right now only has Spiderman for the comic series, so it might be a way to bring some of the characters from that universe to the main one, namely Spiderman Miles Morales, which I have been wanting to read but the store never has. This might also be a way to give the Ultimate Universe a final send off since the series from that universe have been failing in recent years.
After writing everything and going to upload it Marvel apparently announced Ultimate End, which is their way of saying that they are ending this universe in a mini event form that will be going on at the same time as Secret Wars.
Really, I am like other people when it comes to this, and have a lot of mixed views. I have been looking for a reason to stop getting comics, so I have more money for manga, this event might lead me down that path. Or it could be like how it has been in recent years and does something that makes me want to read more comics. This will probably turn into the second one.
The Reviewer's Corner 