So yeah – weird title if you don’t read Marvel Comics. What I want to write about today is the idea of The Illuminati-group in the Marvel Comics Universe. Minor spoilers for the current New Avengers run may appear, but absolutely no spoilers post-Original Sin crossover. Also, I probably need to explain why we probably won’t ever see them in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (even though Phase 3 would be perfect for its inception). Continue reading “Marvelous Monday #8 – The Illuminati”
Tag: Marvel Comics
Marvelous Monday #4 – What If Spider-Man Had Returned to Marvel in 2010?
For the uninitiated: This is a new weekly feature on the blog wherein I, I’m Jeffrey Rex, discuss all things Marvel.
On this, the fourth ‘installment’ of I’m Jeffrey Rex’ Marvelous Monday, I’ve decided to give you the very first ‘What if’-post. The entire setup of a ‘what if’-post is different, for while regular casting-speculation posts might talk about what could happen, the ‘what if’ posts are much more fact based – at least that’s my intention.
The very first ‘What if’-discussion centers around the epilogue of the Sam Raimi-era of Spider-Man. Let’s look at the bare facts here. Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man film premiered in 2002, its leads where Tobey Maguire, as the titular hero, James Franco, as Harry Osborn, Kirsten Dunst, as Mary Jane Watson, and Willem Dafoe, as the one-off villain Norman Osborn. Two years later, the beloved sequel premiered – with the same basic cast – and another one-off villain – this time Alfred Molina playing Dr. Otto Octavius. Three years thereafter, the third film in the franchise premiered. The movie wasn’t a success – critics criticized its many subplots, and many villains, who, all, were underdeveloped and underused.
This was to be just a slight bump in the road, Sony clearly wasn’t done with the franchise – and, seemingly, not done with the leads and Raimi. Years went by as Sony and the fans were left wanting more – waiting – waiting – losing patience. There was talk of Vulture or Carnage appearing – but time and time again rumors were shot down. Raimi was unable to find a suitable script for his story, and, eventually, Sony and Raimi went their seperate ways in 2010.
Now we all know that Sony would treat this as yet another bump in the road, march on and make more films – though with new actors. Andrew Garfield was cast as the titular hero in the rebooted franchise, and in 2012 Sony had released their first film in the Marc Webb-era. But what if the disappointing scripts, the departure of Raimi – and bad reviews had scared Sony into selling the film-rights back to Marvel Studios?
Continue reading “Marvelous Monday #4 – What If Spider-Man Had Returned to Marvel in 2010?”
Marvelous Monday #1 – Casting Carol Danvers
Hey there! Recently, I was looking for some sort of New Year’s Resolution for the blog – a true commitment – something that mattered, and something that was important. I’ve decided to launch I’m Jeffrey Rex’ Marvelous Monday, which is a new feature to the website/blog, a weekly post about Marvel.
One week I may write about a recently released comic book from Marvel Comics, the next I may write about the state of Marvel Entertainment – and thereafter I may write about Marvel Studios (or another studio with rights to a Marvel Comics character). This does not mean that I won’t ‘break’ Marvel news on other weekdays, but every Monday will give me an opportunity to speculate about all things Marvel. The subject of the first Marvelous Monday ever is ‘Casting Carol Danvers’. Continue reading “Marvelous Monday #1 – Casting Carol Danvers”
REVIEW: Marvel’s Star Wars #1 (2015)
The following is a full written review of Marvel’s Star Wars #1 – Written by Jason Aaron, with art by John Cassaday – Month of Release: January 2015.
At 2014’s San Diego Comic Con, Marvel Comics revealed that they were releasing three new series in early 2015. Star Wars, Star Wars: Darth Vader (Both Monthly), & Star Wars: Princess Leia (Limited Run). All three of the aforementioned early 2015 Star Wars series take place right after Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. I might review the other opening issues as well, and I will continue to review this series if the story is respectful.
Warning – the following brief plot-summary might contain spoilers.
Star Wars #1: Skywalker Strikes follows the original cast of Star Wars, as they try to bring down an imperial weapons facility. The gang pose as negotiators for Jabba the Hut, and everything goes fine – until, suddenly, Darth Vader arrives. Leia orders Chewbacca to take a shot at Vader, but they’re out of luck, obviously. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker saves slaves – and Leia & Han get into an argument. While Han & Leia try to find a way out of the facility, followed by the liberated slaves, Luke hears the voice of Obi Wan – and runs into Darth Vader.
The story is very entertaining – as fun as you’d expect it to be. The dialogue is very good for the main characters, but I took issue with the sudden information dump by C-3PO in the beginning of the issue – I would expect the exposition to interweave better in a high stakes comic book. Still, this feels like Star Wars.
I’ve got to say that I am impressed by the cover art, and the overall look of the universe in the comic book. It looks absolutely great. There is, however, one thing that disappointed me. At times the likeness was off – especially for Luke Skywalker. At times he looked like more like a Ellen DeGeneres lookalike, than a young Mark Hamill.
I often say that it was my first nerd-love, and it was – yet I’ve never actually read Star Wars comic books until now. I didn’t know they existed until a few years ago. Had I known, I would’ve been a lot happier – methinks. Now, how do I feel this comic book overall feels to me compared to the films, shows etc. that I’ve watched? It fits perfectly within the narrative of the original trilogy. Same feel, same look – same mood. Spot on.
At the end of the issue, you see some preview pages for Star Wars: Darth Vader & Star Wars: Princess Leia. While it would be impossible to make a statement on the story based on preview pages, I loved the look of Star Wars: Darth Vader, but I’m iffy about the look of Star Wars: Princess Leia.
Final Grade: A- – The feel and look of Star Wars is captured in this entertaining mission. For full list of Comic Book Review grades go here.
– I’m Jeffrey Rex.
Marvel Reveals Phase 3
On tuesday the 28th of October 2014 Marvel Studios decided it was time to reveal their Phase 3-line-up, something that’s been discussed and speculated upon on pretty much every site – including this one. Now, in my aforementioned post regarding MCU Speculation I theorized on quite a bit – and some of it was spot on. Thor 3 will indeed be Ragnarok, and Black Panther is getting his own movie. Though there were a couple, if not quite a few, surprises that surprised even the biggest Marvel True Believers. In this post I’ll go over the most interesting choices year by year for the Phase 3 Line-up – including, but not limited to, new characters.
2016 – The Big Event & The Sorcerer Supreme
So here we go, Captain America 3 – directed by the Russo Brothers – will be The Serpent Society… Or, well, Feige wanted to fool us all, I guess. At the last minute he revealed that the rumours were true. The epic Marvel Comics Event Civil War will be adapted to the big screen.
This was a polarizing Comic Book Event, but a huge reveal for the MCU – everyone who’ve held Marvel Comic Books for the last few years should know what this means. This is the battle of ideologies between Steve Rogers and Tony Stark. Interestingly, they also revealed that Black Panther will indeed be a part of this film – but I’ll get to him, and the confirmed actor, later in this post. A huge part of the comic book event is secret identities, now Feige pretty much revealed that that won’t be a huge part of the cinematic version – and that’s a good thing – because Spider-Man is still in Sony‘s possession. This is by far the film I’m most excited about in the cinematic universe – and it blows my mind that we will see Captain America versus Iron Man in the same summer as Batman v Superman – this is quite obviously a battle, not only for fanboys, but in Hollywood as well.
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Here we go, Dr Strange is indeed coming to cinemas – it might be rushed somewhat – but it is coming. I really wanted Joaquin Phoenix, and apparently so did Marvel – but when that deal fell apart, I was open to a lot of things; and Benedict Cumberbatch was one of those. Of course, Benedict is not yet confirmed as Dr Strange – but I’ll trust Deadline on this one. If it falls apart, though, this could end up as a bigger media-nightmare than Ant-Man was for Marvel. All in all though, Cumberbatch would make me pretty excited for this film.
2017 – Star-Lord, T’Challa & The End
Now, Star-Lord and Guardians of the Galaxy 2 are not going to be written about in this article – however it is notable that its date has been changed (Now being released on the 5th of May 2017). The big pieces of news here are the arrivals of T’Challa and the end of all things in the Norse Mythology.
As I wrote in July, Chadwick Boseman would be an excellent choice – and indeed it is – Boseman’s star is rising, and this won’t slow it down. The fact of the matter is that this character is extremely important to True Believers. Also, his involvement in Civil War will instantly make him a part of the greater importance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – this casting is huge. T’Challa is going to be important, and I am extremely excited about this film – and the casting of Boseman is making me completely giddy.
Judgement Day is coming for Asgard. Now, this is important – not only because of it being a third film – but because it has to change something, something has to end. I could easily see Thor die in this film, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that happened because of the ruler of Asgard, Odin, I mean Loki. I would love to see Thor battle Fenrir or the Midgard Serpent – but honestly, I don’t know enough about solo-Thor stories in the Marvel Comic Books.
2018 + 2019 – Infinity & Beyond
Now, this is where everyone went completely nuts. Not only is Avengers 3, now titled Infinity War (obviously about the big Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos – the whole shebang), to be split into two parts – one in 2018, one in 2019 – but we’re also getting the Carol Danvers-movie…. Oh, and let’s not forget about the Inhumans-movie. Nerds all over the globe lost their minds.
This is huge for female nerds around the world, and females in general one might say. We need more female superheroes, and this is a great start. I wouldn’t mind seeing her in the Cosmic Universe – if that means she won’t just suit up with the Guardians, this is a solo star, not just a part of the gang. To be honest, I’d rather have the Kamala Khan Ms. Marvel, but that may be too fresh for the MCU – hopefully, we’ll eventually see her.
It is being theorized that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch will be mutants, I mean Inhumans, in this universe – and that would make sense with this reveal. With that having been said, we need Black Bolt in an eventual film – and hopefully Lockjaw. But to be honest, I don’t know enough about the Inhumans to truly evaluate them – but that is really exciting.
So that’s it, True Believers – Phase 3 will be the biggest yet – and the most diverse for sure. I predict the loss of at least two Avengers-heroes by 2019 – and I’m eyeing Stark, Rogers and/or Odinson. We’ll see, but one thing’s for sure – Marvel’s not slowing down. Not. At. All. Buckle up.
Proposition for Kevin Feige – July 2014
Hello and welcome,
As you may’ve noticed this post is for Kevin Feige. Now you may ask who he is. Kevin Feige pretty much is in control of the destiny of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Phases, he is the one sitting next to Whedon and co., the man with the plan. I will be trying to come up with various ideas for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and these are the first propositions I present. Starting with the introduction of Sam Alexander, the new Nova, in Phase 4.
The Troubled Teen – Sam Alexander – Nova
Now, Sam Alexander isn’t the fan-favorite Nova – and I know this – but he is the one Marvel Comics is trying right now, and could easily make money for the Disney owned studios. The character of Sam Alexander would be the youngest leading man for Marvel, and has already been discussed somewhat. I believe there were rumours of Ty Simpkins’ character in Iron Man 3 actually being the introduction of a kid-Nova, like Sam Alexander. However, we’ve seen nothing of him since. Instead I propose two actors for the role of Nova, both being actors I’d label as ‘kids’ for a kid-character (which might actually just be tossed to the side, a la Radcliffe as Harry Potter). First and foremost, I’d like to propose Liam James (originally pictured above) of ‘The Way Way Back’ & ‘2012’ fame. James was born in 1996, and would therefore be at an acceptable age for Sam Alexander… And he looks the part too. I like the awkward portrayal he put forth in ‘The Way Way Back’, and I think his character from the aforementioend movie has some interesting features as a leading man, in a world where he (Nova) is not in charge. Now, I’ve also noted Kodi Smit-McPhee who is having a great year, starring in the new Planet of the Apes-film.
The Leading Men – Dr. Strange & Black Panther
With Marvel slowly, but surely, losing Downey Jr. as their main man – they’re going to need to replenish their cast of stars. The rumours of a Black Panther movie have been heard for a long time, and I suspect we’ll have it confirmed at San Diego Comic Con 2014. For the role of Black Panther, I propose Chadwick Boseman of ’42’ fame. I think this is a guy most people want, even ahead of a big name like Chiwetel Ejiofor, and that’s saying something. In any case, this is a character the MCU needs – we’re waiting, Feige.
As for Dr. Strange? Well, the movie’s confirmed – it’s got its most important ‘staffmembers’, in a director and Screenplay-writers. Now we need a leading man – someone to give us a new mature Marvel CU… Hopefully. Jared Leto’s been rumoured, and I’d like him – but I propose another guy, someone who’s a household name, of sorts. Joaquin Phoenix of ‘Walk the Line’ and ‘Her’ fame. Not only is this a household name, he also has the presence of a sorcerer supreme.
Hopefully Feige will listen… Who knows what we’ll see at Comic Con, and what about the Credit Sequences of Guardians of the Galaxy?
– I’m Jeffrey Rex
I'm Jeffrey Rex 