Marvel's Film Universe: A Rant

By Mike Noyes

So, I saw Iron Man 2 opening night, and like most people I've talked to, I enjoyed it immensely. But it got me really thinking about this cohesive film Universe that Marvel is attempting to build and I realized how truly ambitious and unprecedented this is.

I mean, building a Universe in comics is one thing. It's easy (relatively speaking that is) to get a bunch of writers, editors and artists to sit down together and plot out year plus long story arcs and connect the comics in new and interesting ways.

But to do that in film? Frankly I would have thought it impossible. Hell, it's hard enough to get one film made and have it turn out good.

The really big road block is that you have different producers and different directors all wanting to bring their own take and vision to the story. Jon Favreau brought us not one, but two great Iron Man flicks. Louis Leterrier stole Hulk from Ang Lee and gave us a film worthy of the green misunderstood monster. Kenneth "Hamlet" Branagh has been chosen to bring us Thor (a choice that I find utterly brilliant). Joe Johnston (whose resume is hit or miss, but has some solid home runs on it) is bringing us Captain America. And Joss effin' Whedon has signed on to direct The Avengers film, bringing all of these films together.

To think that each of these directors can work together to not only bring their vision to the screen, but have them fit into a world where all these other visions work is just about the most ambitious thing I've ever heard of in film.

Now it has been reported that Sam Jackson has signed a nine film contract to play Nick Fury. Nine Films! NINE FILMS! That's insane! That means that they have so much more planned that we don't even know about yet!

Seeing Jackson as Fury at the end if Iron Man was the icing on a very tasty cake. Then Iron Man popped up in Hulk. Fury came back for a bigger role in Iron Man 2 and then there was the scene after the credits... but I don't want to ruin it for any fools who've yet to see the film. The powers that be are really taking the time to think not just about how to tell the best story and make the best movie, but how to fit in the little things that will become important in later films. That kind of forethought is very rare in Hollywood .

The heads over at Marvel Studios really seem to have their shit together and are doing this right. Sure it's going to take a long time; Thor and Captain America in '11, The Avengers in '12 and who knows what after that. It'll be a long time before they can get through that nine film contract of Jackson's and I plan on being there opening night every step of the way.

I've stated before my love for Brian Michael Bendis and what he's done for the Marvel Universe. For seven years now he's been dragging the heroes through the gutter and now that Dark Reign is finally coming to an end. The light at the end of the tunnel is finally glowing brightly. The Heroic Age is about to begin and heroes will be heroes again!

While I am so excited for this, it really does pale in comparison to what Marvel Studios has planned for us.

I mean hell, it's hard enough to make one series stay strong. Look what Brett Ratner did to X-Men: The Last Stand (shutter....). Look what Sam Raimi did to Spider-man in part 3! Seriously, who ever thought that Emo-Parker was a good idea? I hope with this reboot of the web slinger they decide to tie it into this universe they're building.

With Studios' and Directors' inability to even keep a single franchise on a forward momentum it makes it a little scary to think about them trying to keep and kind of coherency and consistency with several series'.

And The Avengers film? Whedon really is going to have his hands full with that one. He's going to have to take all these characters from all these other films and blend them together is some way that makes sense (at least all the origin stories will be out of the way so he doesn't have to waste time on that). That's a monumental task that I know he's capable of so I'm not too worried, but still... Even Favreau stated that he opted out of The Avengers because he was too tied up in Iron Man's world. He wouldn't know what to do with a God, a super soldier or a green monster with anger management issues.

It's been proven that what works in comics does not always work on screen. But I think that there is enough of a creative powerhouse behind these films that there is a damn good chance that they'll all turn out great. So far they're three for three, but every success raises the odds of a stinker that much higher, and with all these films being so interconnected one crack could bring the whole fragile structure down and that is certainly something I don't want to see happen. One box office flop could kill everything they are trying to build.

Like I said, I think this is just about the most ambitious thing I ever seen anyone try to do in Hollywood and I'm very excited to see what these next few years will bring.

Thoughts?

Daria Morgendorffer FINALLY Comes To DVD

If you didn't go to high school or college in from the late 1990's to early 2000's, then chances are you've never heard of Daria Morgendorffer before, or her self-titled show Daria. For those of you who haven't seen it, Daria was an animated series that aired on MTV back when that network was still culturally relevant. It was actually a spinoff from another classic MTV animated series you may have heard of called Beavis & Butthead.

Daria herself originally appeared on Beavis & Butthead as a minor character, but she got her own show after that series ended. It's a good thing she did too, because the Daria series just so happens to be one of the greatest things that MTV ever produced. Not only was the show intelligently written, it perfectly captured that period in time. If you lived through that era, you'll recognize just about every character in the series as someone you knew. There are punkers, jocks, goths, preppies, grungers, frat boys, overachievers and those like Daria who just don't fit in anywhere.

The series has been held back from being released on DVD for years due to issues with music licensing rights, but it has finally come out on DVD today in a complete series set which includes all five seasons of the show as well as the made-for-TV movies that came out after the series itself ended. I had the luck of getting to watch some episodes on an advanced copy about two weeks ago, and the show is just as funny and great now as it was back then. In fact, it may even be a little funnier now that a lot of the cultural references are a little dated.

There's definitely a nostalgia factor included for those of us who lived through this era, but the show is still funny enough for even modern viewers to enjoy it. As much of a representation of the 90's the show may be, there's still a bit of a timeless quality to it in regards to the eternal struggles of high schoolers everywhere as they try to fit in with the cliques and the ever changing styles of what is cool.

You can buy Daria over at Amazon for only $28. You really can't beat that for the amount of entertainment you're getting with this set.

Pat's Movie Reviews: Iron Man 2

Before I begin this review, let me come right out and say that I absolutely loved the first Iron Man film. I think that Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark is one of the most perfect casting choices ever, and that Director Jon Favreau took what most comic fans considered a second (or maybe even third) string Marvel hero and turned him into an instant A-lister with one of the most well made and entertaining superhero films to date. I'm telling you this, not because I want you to think that my love for the first film instantly biases me towards liking the new film, but in fact the exact opposite.

To love a film as much as I do the first Iron Man, it instantly makes me skeptical that any sequel can live up to the greatness of the first. It almost never happens that a sequel is as good as the original film. As a point of fact, I and most of my fellow comic book loving friends accept that about 90% of comic film sequels tend to suck really badly. It is with this mindset, and this complete expectation of suckitude that I walked into Iron Man 2.

Oh, and expect there to be some BIG SPOILERS from this point on. You've been warned.

Iron Man 2 starts off literally as the first film is ending. Remember that big press conference at the end of the first film where Tony comes out to the world as Iron Man? Well, it turns out that the press conference is being televised across the world, and it's seen by some dying old man in Russia who starts having a conniption fit when Tony makes his announcement. He calls in his son, Mickey Rourke, and talks to him briefly before keeling over on the spot. Mickey Rourke gives the classic head-turned-to-the-sky yell of pain and anger.

Boom . . . . our new super villain is born. Awesome!

This moment to me really sets off what is ultimately the underriding theme of the new Iron Man 2 film, and that is that all of Tony Stark's problems are in some way, shape or form caused by Tony Stark. His arrogance at announcing himself as Iron Man instantly spawns his next biggest enemy. For the next 90 minutes or so of film, we will continue to see Tony be his own worst enemy as he repeatedly makes things worse for himself. Instead of working with Pepper Potts to deal with the after effects of his announcement to his company, he completely ignores the issue and she is left dealing with a company that is falling apart around her on her own. Instead of working with the US government, or at least even treating them in an adult manner, Tony's childish behavior at congressinal hearings only creates more enemies.

It turns out that the Palladium that Tony is using to power the mini-arc reactor in his chest is slowly killing him. Does he turn to those closest to him for help and support? Of course not. He keeps this secret to himself because he can't seem to accept the fact that he can't do something on his own. Instead of seeking help anywhere he can get it, he keeps trying to go it alone, and almost gets himself killed in the process. In fact, his worries about his impending death eventually leads to a complete breakdown about halfway through the film where Tony decides to get totally wasted during a birthday party at his house. While wearing the Iron Man suit, a very drunk Tony Stark proceeds to make an ass of himself in front of everyone. This behavior is what finally leads his most loyal friend Rhody Rhodes to turn on him. Rhody grabs another set of Armor, and then attempts to literally beat some sense into his drunken friend.

The fight ends with Rhody taking the suit and turning it over to the government. Say hello to the birth of War Machine, all thanks to Tony Stark being a complete ass.

It continues on like this for a while. Time and time again, Tony keeps making the wrong choices and his life gets more and more difficult as a result of them. I would actually be fairly accurate to say that Tony Stark is the main villain of this film for the first three quarters of it. Only after Nick Fury shows up and finally gives Tony the boot in the ass that he's needed for so long do things finally start to turn around for him.

To me, as a comic book fan, taking this approach to the sequel was sheer brilliance. As opposed to most superhero sequels, which tend to think that the only way to amp up the drama is to amp up the number of supervillains and the amount of action, Iron Man 2 goes down a much more introspective road. The film is almost exactly two hours long, and in the first 90 minutes there are only two fight scenes of note. Both of these fight scenes are fairly short too. The vast majority of this film revolves around Tony Stark, his personal problems, his friends and his dealing with suddenly being this superhero which is requiring him to become a better man than he is. It's a deep character drama. Only in the last 30 minutes or so do we finally see some large scale Iron Man action.

To a lot of people, this may be a negative thing. I've been hearing comments here and there where people are saying that the film is really long and boring, and that it takes forever to get going. Those people don't get what Jon Favreau and his team are trying to do here. They fully understand that Tony Stark is a flawed hero. Deep down, he's a loveable guy, but he's all too human and he needs to overcome his personal demons even more than he does the giant bad guys with the big electric whips.

As for the action in the film, holy schnikes does it get awesome when it finally starts. The last 30 minutes of Iron Man 2 is almost all combat. It's Iron Man vs. War Machine and an army of evil robots, then it's Iron Man and War Machine vs. said army of evil Robots, and finally it's Iron Man and War Machine vs. Whiplash. The action is fast, intense and incredibly pretty. Jon Favreau certainly does know how to make things explode in the prettiest ways possible. There were moments in the fight scenes where I was seriously on the edge of my seat and gasping as things were happening. It may take a while to get to the big fight scenes at the end, but the wait is more than worth it.

In the end, Iron Man 2 comes out as a completely stellar sequel. Is it as good as the first film? That's open to one's own opinion really. I'm not sure where I stand on that thought, but I would definitely at the very least rank it to be equally on par with the first film in level of overall awesomeness. This is definitely a longer, more slowly paced film than the first one was, but I think that was necessary to make this as good as it was. It's the continuation of Tony Stark's quest to become the hero he needs to be. He's not quite there yet, but he's getting better.

Final Grade: A

P.S. If you didn't stay until the end of the credits to see the easter egg with Thor's hammer, you should be kicking yourself. Go see the film again. Seriously, you missed something truly bad ass.

Friday Happy Hour

Yeah, I know it's been forever since I've done a Friday Happy Hour. I've been meaning to post one of these for a while now. Sorry about that. I hope the awesomeness of what I have to share though more than makes up for the absence of this regular feature here on Geek-tastic.

What you see before you is quite possibly the prettiest shot of alcohol I have ever beheld. It is the T-Virus shot. If you don't know what the T-Virus is, shame on you. Go play a Resident Evil game or watch one of the movies, then you'll learn. To make this incredibly beautiful shot, you will need the following.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 shot of Silver Rum
• 1/4 shot of Everclear
• 1 blue Twizzler

And here's how you make it:

• Wind a blue Twizzler around a tall double shot glass. It should stick to the sides of the glass.
• Pour in the silver rum and top with the Everclear.
• Drink, then eat the Twizzler for a sweet/sour aftertaste.

A fair warning to you, the consumer of this tasty beverage. The T-Virus is known to have dangerous side effects. Too many of these could very well lead you to feeling like the undead when you wake up the next morning.

(Via Drunken Moogle)

To The Batpoles . . .

If you're anything like me, you grew up watching the old 60's Batman TV series starring Adam West and Burt Ward. Many an afternoon were spent in front of a TV where I would watch Batman and Robin chasing down The Penguin, The Joker, The Riddler or my personal favorite . . . Catwoman.

I would even go so far as to say that it was this show that really introduced me to the Batman universe and its cast of characters. It certainly was the show that began my life long crush on Batgirl. Any episode where Yvonne Craig showed up in her skintight purple outfit and red wig was an instant favorite of mine, regardless of whether the episode was any good or not.

And now, Vivid Entertainment has announced the release of Batman XXX, a porn parody of this great show. When I first heard that this was announced, I was amused but didn't give it much thought really. Having seen this trailer now though, I can say I'm actually looking forward to watching this when it comes out. It looks like Vivid has gone out of their way to make this parody as close to the original series as possible. The costumes look great, the sets look similiar to the original show, and even Batman's campy delivery of lines looks to be dead on.

Hell, they even got one of the original Batmobiles (or a really good replica) to drive around in and seem to be using the same Batcave set from the actual show. That there is the kind of dedication to the source material that you can't even find in most major mainstream comic films nowadays. Way to go Vivid.

With that said though, I do have some minor complaints to make. Why the hell doesn't Batgirl have red hair? WTF? She's not blonde! At the very least, you could have given your actress a red wig just like the original Batgirl. Also, I don't care how cute Tori Black is as Catwoman, she can't hold a candle to the sexiness of Julie Newmar from the 1960's. Then again though, no woman can hold a candle to Julie Newmar from back then. It's just not possible, so I guess I can't hold that against the new actress.

Other than that though, this has Evan Stone as the Riddler. If you've ever seen the Pirates XXX films or the Star Trek porn parody that came out a little while ago, you know how funny and awesome this guy is. Having him as the Riddler in and of itself makes me want to see this film. Finally, it even looks like the guy playing The Joker even has a moustache with white face paint over it, just like Caesar Romero had in the original show.

All in all, this parody looks pretty damned awesome. Even the animation in the opening credits looks cool.

Sure, Why Not? D&D Soda

We've all been there. You're in the middle of a marathon session of D&D where your party has been holding off a keep from an army of vicious Orcs when you find yourself to be completely parched. It must have been all of that crit rolling and backstabbing you've been doing. The waves of the enemy are still coming though. There's no time to stop and run down to the store for a lunch break. It looks like it's going to be a run to the fridge for some cans of soda.

But why go for the standards like Mountain Dew or Coke? Those don't add anything to the roleplaying experience. Instead, why not go for an officially licensed bottle of D&D spellcasting soda? Now here is something guaranteed to give your wizard more magical power and your barbarian a longer lasting blood rage.

The soda's can be purchased online here, and they come in the following fantastic flavors:

• Potion of Healing


• Sneak Attack


• Illithid Brain Juice


• Dwarven Draught


• Bigby's Crushing Thirst Destroyer


• Eldritch Blast

And now the only real question is whether you'll be able to convince your GM to give you bonus XP for staying in character, even while taking a snack break.

The Force Gets Unleashed . . . . Again

In honor of the fact that today is Star Wars Day, I'm finally getting off of my lazy ass and posting the trailer for The Force Unleashed 2, which originally premiered back in December.  I must say that I am excited to see this trailer.  Yes, the original Force Unleashed game was buggy as hell, but I loved the story the game had and am looking forward to seeing how that story continues, especially considering the fact that the main character died at the end of the game.

Hey, don't go bitchin' to me about spoilers.  The game has been out for more than a year.  You've had your time to play it.

Seriously though, how are they going to explain the fact that Starkiller is alive?  He was killed in a giant force lightning explosion thing while dueling with the Emperor.  That's not something you easily walk away from.  Did he fake his death?  Was he only unconscious?  If he lived, why hasn't he sought out the rebel alliance yet?  Why hasn't he gone back to Juno yet?  More importantly, how pissed off will Juno be once she finds out he's alive and he didn't immediately track her down and find her?

Hell hath no fury like a former imperial pilot scorned by a Jedi she thought was dead.

Well, I guess we'll have our answers on October 26th when the new game hits store shelves.  I will definitely be buying this one the day it comes out.

Happy Star Wars Day

As all good geeks and nerds should know, today is Star Wars Day. Be sure to share your love for that galaxy far, far away with everyone you know.

May the fourth be with you!

(Thanks go to my little sister Robin for sending me that awesome image this morning)